questions list | article stringlengths 9 6.44k | id stringlengths 9 14 |
|---|---|---|
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Haleakala National Park"
},
"options": [
"Ho'okipa Beach Park",
"Ohe'o Gulch Pools",
"Town of Hana",
"Haleakala National Park"
],
"question": "If you are afraid of water and want to have fun at dawn , you can po... | When visiting Maui , one of the most beautiful islands in the world , there are so many attractions for you .
HALEAKALA
Mt. Haleakala towers 10,023 feet high and is one of the two volcanoes that created this incredible Hawaiian isle . Haleakala National Park offers a variety of activities , making it one of the most revisited attractions in all the Hawaiian Islands . The most popular activities include enjoying sunrise and sunset , hiking , and backcountry camping on Maui .
ROAD TO HANA
There are many ways to experience the Road to Hana , and the sleepy coastal Town of Hana , Maui . Visitors can go by group and private tours , or explore on their own by renting a vehicle . Beginning at the historic Town of Paia , visitors can enjoy decorated coastlines all the way to Hana , world famous beaches in Hawaii , tropical landscapes , waterfalls , scenic lookout points , and cultural attractions that mark significant points in Maui's unique Hawaiian history .
HO'OKIPA BEACH PARK
Ho'okipa Beach Park is one of the most famous beaches in the world for professional surfing and windsurfing . In the ancient Hawaiian language , " ho'okipa " means hospitality , which is exactly what this Beach Park offers ! At Ho'okipa , visitors can see the powerful coastline from the top parking lot for amazing photo opportunities . Or you can go to the sand for afternoon BBQ's and the glorious Maui shunshine .
OHE'O GULCH POOLS
The Ohe'o Gulch Pools , more commonly referred to as the Seven Sacred Pools , is a wonderful place to explore Maui on vacation . The lower pools are more easily accessed , and perhaps the best choice for visitors who want to jump in . Due to the popularity of the Seven Sacred Pools , it is highly suggested to arrive early for a chance to enjoy privacy in this beautiful location . | high19000.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "To have less food and take more exercise."
},
"options": [
"To have operation to cut extra fat.",
"To take pills and avoid fatty food.",
"To sleep less to burn more calories.",
"To have less food and take more exercise.... | Eat less and exercise more--it has long been a magic word for reducing those extra weight. But now it seems that all the hard work may have been in vain.
Scientists say there are ten other reasons why people just keep getting bigger. They say that sleeping habits, central heating, medicines and even some pollutants can play a role in weight gain.
Traditionally, people have focused on diet and exercise to solve the problem. However the scientists from top US and Canadian universities say that other things must be considered.
Lack of sleep could be partly the reason. In recent years, the average night's sleep has dropped from nine hours to just seven. Sleep shortage changes levels of the hormones that control food intake and body fat and increase hunger and appetite.
If it is too hot or too cold, we burn calories to cool down or heat up. But if the temperature is just right, the calories may be turned into body fat instead.
Those who take medicine to control their blood pressure can often put on weight. Similarly, studies have shown that going on the Pill can add to a woman's weight.
Mother nature may also be the reason, with our body shape being partly inherited . The overweight are also more likely to settle with partners of a similar size. And their children are more likely to be obese .
And the use of pollutants is on the rise, say the researchers. The man-made chemicals in pesticides and plastics can lead to weight gain.
Your mother's age and your weight at birth are also important, with older woman more likely to have obese children and underweight babies having a bigger chance of being obese in later life.
We also tend to put on weight as we get older. Finally, giving up smoking can also help pile on the pounds.
The scientists from Yale, Cornell and Johns Hopkins said there was some evidence supporting poor diet and lack of exercise as the main causes of obesity. | high20859.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "It was on show at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1930."
},
"options": [
"It won a prize of 300 pounds.",
"The two characters in it posed before the White House.",
"It was the first painting by Grant Wood.",
"It was on ... | Grant Wood's American Gothic caused a stir in 1930 when it was exhibited for the first time at the Art Institute of Chicago and awarded a prize of 300 dollars. Newspapers across the country carried the story, and the painting of a farmer and a younger woman posed before a white house brought the artist instant fame.
In 1930, Grant Wood, an American painter with European training, noticed a small white house built in the small southern Iowa town of Eldon. Wood was so fascinated by it that he decided to paint the house along with the kind of people he thought should live in that house. In the painting, the farmer is modeled on his dentist. Dr. Byron McKeeby. His younger sister Nan served as a model for the woman (imagined to be the farmer's wife or daughter). Wood wanted to give a description of the traditional roles of men and women as the man is holding a pitchfork symbolizing hard labor. Each element was painted separately; the models sat separately and never stood in front of the house. The Gothic style of the house inspired the painting's title.
American Gothic remains one of the most famous paintings in the history of American art. The painting has become part of American popular culture. Some believe that Wood used it to satirize the narrow-mindedness that has been said to characterize Midwestern culture. The painting may also be read as a praise of the moral virtue or rural America or even as a mixture of praise and satire. American Gothic is one of the few images to reach the status of cultural symbol, along with Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa. | high12155.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "was walking towards his car with his friend"
},
"options": [
"was in his late thirties",
"served as a car repairman",
"had much money in his pocket",
"was walking towards his car with his friend"
],
"question": ... | I was at a dance club when I was nineteen. One day my new friend walked with me to my car. It was a very cold night. As we were walking to my car, a man walked up to us. Behind him was a woman pushing _ with a child inside who was about 2 years old. The child had only a jacket on and it wasn'tzipped . The man began to tell us he wanted to borrow some money for the night and that he had a job but no place to live and was waiting for his first paycheck. He confirmed he could get our mailing address and mail the money back to us.
The guy I was with reached into his pocket to give this man a $20 bill. As the man was extending his hand out to take the money, I put my hand on my new friend's hand and said, "Can I talk to you for a minute?" I told him some people earned money by begging and that they always cheated those with soft hearts. And if they were truly worried about their child being out in the cold, they would have at least zipped his jacket.
My friend looked at me with disapproval and said, "Michael, I know there are some people out there that take advantage of others. I also know some people out there that are one paycheck away from being homeless. If I gave $20 to 10 people and only one of them really needed it and used it for the right thing, it was worth it."
I am now thirty-seven years old and have never forgotten what he said to me. I don't even remember his name now. But I do remember that this experience changed my perspective . | high22096.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Because they had little knowledge about the functioning of the body."
},
"options": [
"Because magic was an inseparable part of their life.",
"Because they had little knowledge about the functioning of the body.",
"Because th... | Attempts to understand the relationship between social behavior and health have their origin in history. Dubos (1969) suggested that primitive humans were closer to the animals because they, too, relied upon their instincts to stay healthy. Yet some primitive humans recognized a cause and effect relationship between doing certain things and alleviating symptoms of a disease or improving the condition of a wound. Since there was so much that primitive humans did not understand about the functioning of the body, magic became an integral component of the beliefs about the causes and cures of health disorders. So it is not surprising that early humans thought that illness was caused by evil spirits. Primitive medicines made from vegetables or animals were invariably used in combination with some form of ritual to drive harmful spirits away from a diseased body.
One of the earliest attempts in the Western world to formulate principles of health care based upon rational thought and rejection of supernatural phenomena is found in the work of the Greek physician Hippocrates. Little is known of Hippocrates who lived around 400 B.C., not even whether he actually authored the collection of books that bears his name. Nevertheless, the writings attributed to him have provided a number of principles underlying modern medical practice. One of his most famous contributions, the Hippocratic Oath, is the foundation of contemporary medical ethics . Among other things, it requires a physician to swear that he or she will help the sick, keep oneself from intentional wrong-doing or harm, and keep secret all matters to keep the doctor-patient relationship.
Hippocrates also argued that medical knowledge should be derived from an understanding of the natural sciences and the logic of cause and effect relationships. In this classic thesis, On Airs, Waters, and Places, Hippocrates pointed out that human-being is influenced by the totality of environmental factors: living habits or lifestyle, climate, geography of the land, and the quality of air and food. Interesting enough, concerns about our health and the quality of air, water, and places are still very much written in the twentieth century. | high6063.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "had a small number of students"
},
"options": [
"had a small number of students",
"had no celebrations",
"had advanced teaching equipment",
"had a small playground"
],
"question": "According to the text, the sch... | My school stood in a big square playground in southeastern South Dakota. One teacher taught all grades, first through eighth. Most grades had only two or three students.
Our school day started with the flag pledge . Then the teacher called one grade at a time to the recitation bench beside her desk. She'd check our work, explain the new lesson, and dismiss us to go back to our own desks and do our new work, all in less than ten minutes per grade.
At noon we ate lunches we had brought. Our lunches consisted of homemade sandwiches and if we were lucky, dessert. My favorite dessert was a fresh pear, and a piece of Mom's delicious sour cream chocolate cake.
The annual Christmas program was the most exciting part of the year. We hurried through our lessons during December to allow time to practise poems, songs, and plays.
A few days before the performance, the school board members borrowed equipment from the town and set up a stage across one side of the classroom. We hung bed sheets for curtains.
On the evening of the performance, petrol lanterns hanging along the walls cast a warm, though not very bright, light over the gathering crowd. We could hardly contain our excitement as we looked from behind the curtains to wave at our parents.
On a spring Sunday in a new term, just before the last day of the school term, everyone in the neighborhood gathered for a picnic. Our moms set fried chicken, bowls of salads, and desserts on the teacher's desk and the library table. After the dinner, we played games. One of the school board members brought big buckets of ice cream in the afternoon to top off the picnic. How we looked forward to that treat!
I was just nineteen years old when I started my first teaching position in a country school with thirteen students. I felt excited, nervous and happy as I prepared my lunch bucket the first morning of the term. I can't remember what kind of sandwiches I packed, but I do remember I put in a fresh pear and a piece of chocolate cake for dessert! | high14524.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Positive."
},
"options": [
"Tolerant.",
"Conservative.",
"Positive.",
"Doubtful."
],
"question": "What's Dr Flatley's attitude towards the technology?",
"question_type": null
}
] | Every baby born a decade from now will have its genetic code mapped at birth, the head of the worlds' leading genome sequencing company has predicted.
A complete DNA read - out for every newborn will be technically possible and affordable in less than five years, promising a revolution in healthcare, says Jay Flatley, the chief executive of Illumina. Only social and legal problems are likely to delay the age of "genome sequences," or genetic profiles. By 2019 it will have become routine to map infants' genes when they are born, Dr Flatly told The Times.
This will open a new approach to medicine, by which conditions such as high blood pressure and heart disease can be predicted and prevented and drugs used more safely and effectively.
A baby's genome can be discovered at birth by a blood test. By examining a person's genome, it is possible to identify raised risks of developing diseases such as cancers. Those at high risk can then be screened more regularly, or given drugs or dietary advice to lower their chances of becoming ill.
Personal genomes could also be used to ensure that patients get the medicine that is most likely to work for them and least likely to have side-effects.
The development, however, will raise legal concerns about privacy and access to individuals' genetic records.
"Bad things can be done with the genome. It could predict something about someone - and you could possibly hand the information to their employer or their insurance company." said Dr Flatley.
"People have to recognize that _ , and that your genome probably can't be protected, because everywhere you go you leave your genome behind. Complete genetic privacy, however, is unlikely to be possible", he added.
As the benefits become clearer, however, he believes that most people will want their genomes read and interpreted. The risk is nothing compared with the gain. | high22928.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Northanger Abbey and Persuasion."
},
"options": [
"Northanger Abbey and Mansfield Park.",
"Northanger Abbey and Persuasion.",
"Pride and Prejudice and Emma.",
"Sense and Sensibility and Persuasion."
],
"question... | JANE AUSTEN(1775--1817)is often regarded as the greatest of English women novelists on the strength of her six completed novels.Known particularly for their social comedy and accurate description of human relationships,they are still as widely read today as they have ever been.
The seventh child of a country priest ,Jane Austen was born on 16 December 1775 at Steventon in Hampshire.Her father ,the Reverend George Austen,was an intelligent and sensitive man who encouraged Jane in her love of reading.From an early age she was familiar with the works of Henry Fielding,Sir Walter Scott,Richardson,Frances Burney and the poet George Crabbe.Her early attempts at writing include burlesques of popular romances.When her father retired in 1801 the family moved to Bath,which was later to feature in her novel Northanger Abbey(published in 1818).After his death in 1805 the family moved first to Southampton and then in 1809 to Chawton in Hampshire.where Jane Austen is known to have written her last three novels:Mansfield Park(1814),Emma(1816)and Persuasion(also published in 1818).Although her other novels were written much earlier ,it was not until 1811 that Sense and Sensibility was first published.Pride and Prejudice,which followed in1813,features Jane Austen'own favourite hero,Elizabeth Bennet.
Surrounded by her lively and warm family and wholly buried herself in her writing and housework,Jane Austen led a life often known for its lack of events.She did,however ,attract several admirers and even accepted a proposal of marriage from one admirer-only to change her mind the following morning.Jane Austen's independent life often seems reflected in her novels,which seem to display the world in miniature .Sir Walter Scott praised Jane Austen for'that unique _ which makes ordinary commonplace things and characters interesting',while Somerset Maugham claimed that she had at her command 'the most precious gift a novelist can possess's that of keeping the reader's interest.Jane Austen died in 1817. | high6705.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "To see the Statue of Liberty."
},
"options": [
"To enjoy roast Beijing duck.",
"To taste the finest French coqauvin.",
"To spend an evening with Beethoven.",
"To see the Statue of Liberty."
],
"question": "Which... | If you're looking for the place that has everything, there's only one place to visit, and that's New York. It's a whole world in a city.
The World of Theatre: All of New York is a stage. And it begins with Broadway. Where else can you find so many hit shows in one place? Only in New York!
The World of Music: Spend an evening with Beethoven at Lincoln Center. Swing to the great jazz of Greenwich Village. Or rock yourself silly at the hottest dance sports found anywhere.
The World of Art: From Rembrandt to Picasso. From Egyptian tombs to Indian teepees. Whatever kind of art you like, you'll find it in New York.
The World of Fine Dining: Whether it's a roast Beijing duck in Chinatown, lasagna in Little Italy, or the finest French coqauvin found anywhere, there's a world of great taste waiting for you in New York.
The World of Sights: What other city has a Statue of Liberty ? A Rockefeller Center? Or a Bronx Zoo? Where else can you take a horse-drawn carriage through Central Park? Only in New York! | high14242.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Because it meets teens' need of belonging."
},
"options": [
"Because it is popular with teens.",
"Because it meets teens' need of belonging.",
"Because it is where teens can be themselves.",
"Because it provides an oppo... | A clique(,) is a group of friends who hang out together and act in similar ways. Cliques are common feature of the teen years. Members of a clique usually have certain things in common. For example, they might all be good students. Membership in a clique is limited. Not everyone who wants to belong can join.
Cliques can have a positive or negative influence. Because most teens have a strong need to belong, they want to feel that they fit into a group. Cliques can help them meet this need. Sometimes teens feel unsure of themselves, and they use a clique to gain approval of what they wear or how they act.
Cliques can become harmful, however, if they pressure members to behave the same way as the group that may damage their health. Cliques may discourage members from making their own decisions, giving their own opinions, or having other friends who aren't accepted by the clique. Cliques may even pressure members to act in ways that go against their own values and beliefs, such as lying to parents or teachers. Cliques can also hurt people outside the group. For example, members might make fun of a teen who isn't in the clique.
If you find yourself under this type of pressure from a clique, here are some actions you can take to improve your situation.
* Suggest other activities. Offer ideas that don't involve hurting others or putting anyone at risk.
* Find new friends. If staying in the clique is becoming a negative experience, you will be better off with new friends. | high9436.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "peer pressure exists among people of all age groups"
},
"options": [
"peer pressure does kids more harm than good",
"math is the most difficult subject for most kids",
"kids today are under greater pressure than before",
... | Come on! All of us are cutting math. Who wants to take that quiz? We're going to take a walk and get lunch instead. Let's go!" says the coolest kid in your class. Do you do what you know is right and go to math class, take the quiz? Or do you give in and go with them?
People who are at your age, like your classmates, are called peers. When they try to influence you how to act, to get you to do something, it's called peer pressure. It's something everyone has to deal with--even adults.
Peers influence your life, even if you don't realize _ , just by spending time with you. You learn from them, and they learn from you. It's only human nature to listen to and learn from other people in your age group.
Peers can have a positive influence on each other. Maybe another student in your science class taught you an easy way to remember the planets in the solar system. Or you got others excited about your new favorite book, and now everyone is reading it. Sometimes peers influence each other in negative ways. For example, a few kids in school might try to get you to cut class with them.
It's difficult to say "no" to peer pressure, but you can do it. Paying attention to your own feelings and beliefs about what is right and wrong can help you know the right thing to do.
It can really help to have at least one other peer, or friend, who is willing to say "no" too. If you continue to face peer pressure and you're finding it difficult to handle, talk to someone you trust, a parent, or a teacher. They can help you feel much better and prepare you for the next time you face peer pressure. | high8728.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Countries must learn to share water fairly."
},
"options": [
"Water conflicts can arise in poor and dry areas.",
"Countries must learn to share water fairly.",
"What caused water conflicts.",
"Water consumption is incre... | Countries must learn to share water fairly if they are to prevent warring over water as population growth and climate change make it ever more scarce.
Farming uses 70 percent of the fresh water taken from the world's lakes and rivers and need from farms is set to increase by 14 percent in the next 30 years.
Water conflicts can happen in water-stressed areas among local communities and between countries. The lack of instruments for water sharing _ already difficult conditions. In the absence of clear rules, things will not be organized or arranged in order and power plays an important role.
While humans drink between 2 and 5 litres of water a day, it takes 1,000-2,000 litres to produce a kilogram of wheat and up to 15,000 litres to produce a kilo of grain-fed beef.
The daily consumption of water per person is a thousand times more than the consumption through drinking.
Already 1.1 billion people lack clean water and, with the world's population set to grow from 6.5 billion to 8 billion by 2025, 1.8 billion people will face water scarcity by then. Global warming will exacerbate the problem, especially in poor, dry areas.
To improve cross-border cooperation on water use, the 10 countries on the Nile are negotiating a water-sharing agreement which the Food and Agriculture Organisation hopes will be a model for other areas where the scarce water can be shared out peacefully. | high17993.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "She fed, groomed, and rode her horses at the stables."
},
"options": [
"She visited the state website list of parades.",
"She took part in parades.",
"She fed, groomed, and rode her horses at the stables.",
"She spent w... | Renee had been married for a long, long time. Her favorite part of being married was the weekend, when she was with her two horses. On the weekend, Renee was at the stables from morning until dark. She fed, groomed, and rode her horses. She was an excellent rider. She would ride the horses bareback on Saturday, and then she would saddle them up on Sunday.
Renee loved parades. She used to say, "A parade isn't a parade without a horse." Renee loved parades almost as much as she loved her horses. She belonged to an email list of volunteers for parades. She regularly visited the state website list of parades to see if there were any new parades that she didn't know about. All the state parades were organized in her computer. In the parades file, she listed the date, drive time and distance, parade time, contact people, and other details she felt were important.
She knew the parade director of every town within a four-hour drive. She never stayed overnight. She always left the parade in time to get her horses back to the stables before "bedtime". She had to feed them before they turned in. Her horses seemed to like parades, too. They knew a few tricks that always impressed the children.
Renee was very generous with her time and her horses. But owning horses wasn't cheap. You had to rent the stables, and there were always vet and feed bills. Renee knew how to cope with expenses, though. Her vet always gave her a 10-percent discount for paying cash. She always bought the no-name, generic food for the horses. Her vet had told her it was just as healthful and tasty as the brand name material. She always bought economy gasoline. And on parade days, Renee always packed her own lunch and ate with her horses. | high4112.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Moon's gravity or Earth rotation"
},
"options": [
"Earth rotation",
"gravity from the Earth",
"gravity from the Moon",
"Moon's gravity or Earth rotation"
],
"question": "According to the passage, there would be ... | Many people have wondered what makes the oceans rise and fall on the word's beaches twice a day. Those tides are caused by the force of the Moon's gravity and the rotation of the Earth. Gravity acts on the center of any solid object. The Earth is mostly molten rock, but compared to the oceans, we can think of it as a solid object.
As you know, the oceans are fluid and lie on the surface of the Earth. When the Moon is overhead, the oceans are four thousand miles closer to the Moon than the Earth's center is. Because the oceans are closer, the Moon pulls harder on the water than on the Earth. This stronger pull makes the water bunch up a little under the Moon, creating a high tide.
At the same time, the oceans on the opposite side of the Earth are four thousand miles farther from the Moon than the Earth's center is. The Moon's pull on this water is weak. This water bunches up because it is "left behind"(making another high tide) as the Earth is pulled slightly towards the Moon.
When the waters bunch up on these two sides of the Earth, they draw water away from the other sides of the Earth, which creates the low tides.
As the Earth rotates, different parts of the land and oceans pass through the high-tide and low-tide zones. And that makes the waters on our coasts go up and down. | high19766.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "the public should bear famous people's mistakes"
},
"options": [
"the public should bear famous people's mistakes",
"the public should be especially strict with famous people",
"the media shouldn't only satisfy the public's d... | To the Editor,
Re Why a Fallen Angel Is a Centerfold (Sunday Review, Nov. 6): I first met Lindsay Lohan in 1997 when she was 11 and I was the casting director of the film The Parent Trap. I was struck by her talent, fresh charm and innocence the moment I caught sight of her. She was, and remains, a gifted actress and a good human being.
It is not for me to judge Ms Lohan's choices, or whether fame has been less than kind to her, but I have been greatly saddened by the way the media have chosen, with all gloves off and seemingly going with what could please them, to record her efforts and failures. She is a sentient human being, not a thing, not a product, not anything else to be sold.
Charles McGrath makes several attractive points in his news analysis about the public demand which is impossible to satisfy, in a 24/7 news cycle forever changed by the Internet, to gossip about, and give nearly complete access to, celebrity or famous persons' lives. Perhaps people do feel better knowing that wealth and fame do not lead to a perfect life for everyone. Perhaps we admire famous people only to reject them without any pity or mercy when their behavior disappoints us.
I find it ironic that Ms Lohan's decision to pose for Playboy for a monetary reward is considered to be morally questionable, while journalists and photographers gain profit by writing about and capturing images of her and other famous people.
Perhaps when reporting on and reading about famous people who have lost their way, we will remember that those people are also very human people who, like us, make mistakes, endure misfortune and have a chance--in spite of media coverage--to begin a completely new life tomorrow.
ILENE STARGER
Brooklyn | high18478.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "To improve the present living conditions."
},
"options": [
"To earn more money and gain awards.",
"To be recorded by some special companies.",
"To improve the present living conditions.",
"To meet the new demands of new... | Human beings are the most intelligent of all animals because we are gifted with the ability to think and reason logically. Scientists and even common people with special intelligence have made a lot of inventions and contributions to modern lifestyle in the past. "Houses" have been the most popular area for discoveries and inventions in the past and even now.
Many household items have been the result of inventions of people who desired better functioning of the existent products. Every individual has intelligence and if it is used properly for the right purpose it leads to invention of a new tool or device. Many new household inventions are made almost every day and there are specific companies, which particularly keep a record of all these inventions.
A lot of inventions have been made recently in the household field. These products are patented and have trade mark licenses . The patented sliding cinch is a very simple but effective method to prevent shoulder stress and injury for those who work before computers all day long. Vanity PC is a type of computer furniture that specifically hides all the computer wires and keeps a clean and good look. All the outdoor dust, mud and snow can be kept out of the house by installing the dirt drain at the entrance of the door. Another important invention is the automatic toilet night-light, in which a small light starts when the lid of the toilet seat is opened and closes as soon as the lid is closed.
These are some of the new household inventions invented mostly by common people. Thus, a variety of new household items are invented every day, which helps in a better functioning of household chores and in a more useful manner. | high2563.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "To describe how cyclists are supported in the Netherlands."
},
"options": [
"To explain why in Holland cycling isn't eco-friendly.",
"To describe how cyclists are supported in the Netherlands.",
"To inform us of important cyc... | In the Netherlands,cycling isn't seen as an eco-friendly exercise; it's part of everyday life, as it's people's top choice to school and work. "There are more bicycles than residents in the Netherlands. In cities like Amsterdam and The Hague, up to 70 percent of all journeys are made by bike," said BBC.
So how did cycling become such a popular means of transportation in the European country?
In the 1970s, the Dutch government began to improve its cycling infrastructure due to both a social movement demanding safer cycling condition for children and the oil crisis in the Middle East, when oil producing countries stopped their exports to Western Europe.
To make cycling safer and more appealing, the Dutch have built the widest cycling network in the world. The country has over 40,000 kilometers of bicycle lanes and paths,which are clearly marked. They have smooth surfaces,separate signs and lights for those on two wheels. The lanes are wide enough to allow side-by-side cycling and passing.
In many cities the bike lanes are completely segregated from motorized traffic. And in many traffic situations cyclists are given priority over drivers. Sometimes,where space is limited and both must share, you can see signs showing an image of a cyclist with a car behind accompanied by the words "Bike Street:Cars are guests".
As young people aren't allowed to drive alone until they are 18, cycling offers Dutch teenagers an alternative form of freedom. The government also makes cycling training lessons a compulsory part of the Dutch school curriculum .
Bike parking facilities are everywhere in the country. Cyclists are accommodated in the way motorists are elsewhere. Take Groningen, a city in the northeastern part of the Netherlands, for example. The city's central train station has underground parking for 10,000 bikes.
For many Dutch people, bikes are trusty friends for life's adventures. In that kind of relationship it is longevity that matters--that's why many Dutch people ride older bikes. | high17987.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "is short of important nutrients"
},
"options": [
"is often small in size",
"can produce more than enough crops for Africans",
"is short of important nutrients",
"has got the attention of scientists around the world"
... | Studies show farmland in Africa is often lacking in important nutrients. But researchers say combining different farming methods may help.
Since the world food crisis several years ago, researchers have directed more of their attention to small farms. Most farms in areas south of the Sahara Desert are only about one or two hectares. One of the goals is to increase production without necessarily clearing more land to grow additional crops.
American researchers say that can happen with greater use of an agricultural system called perennation. It mixes food crops with trees and perennial plants - those that return year after year.
Mr. Reganold, who is with Washington State University, says poor soil may have resulted from years of weathering that washed away many nutrients. He says some farmers may have done more harm than good.
He estimates that up to two billion dollars worth of nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium is lost from African soil each year.
The scientist says the word perennation defines three systems that are already used in Africa. The oldest of the three is called evergreen agriculture. This is where farmers plant trees with their crops. John Reganold says farmers in Africa have been doing this for sixty years, but it seems to be growing in popularity.
The method is gaining widespread use in countries such as Niger, Burkina Faso, Malawi and Zambia. The trees are planted among maize, millet or sorghum crops. They not only add nitrogen to the soil through their roots, but also through their leaves when they fall off and break down. At other times of the year, the trees can protect plants from strong sunlight.
Mr. Reganold was one of three researchers who wrote a report about perennation. It was published in the journal Nature. | high16441.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Edith's appearance prevents Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon from having a conflict."
},
"options": [
"Timmie fails to get used to the life in his own time.",
"Edith's appearance prevents Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon from having a conflict... | Have you read The Ugly Little Boy? Well, here is the plot.
A Neanderthal child is brought to the present day as a result of time travel experiments. Edith Fellowes, a children's nurse is asked to take care of him. She is at first driven back by his appearance, but soon begins to consider him as her own child, learns to love him and realizes that he is far cleverer than she at first thought. She names him Timmie and tries to make sure that he has the best possible childhood. She becomes angry when the newspapers refer to him as an "ape-boy". Edith's love for Timmie brings her into conflict with her employer, in whose eyes Timmie is more of an experimental animal than a human being.
In the end, her employer thinks that his organization has finished all the experiments with Timmie. He wants to move on to the next project, which is to send Timmie to his own time. Miss Fellowes fights the decision, knowing that now he could not survive as he has got used to modern living habits and speech. She decides to take the boy out of the time travel machine, but when that plan fails, she returns to the ancient past with Timmie.
Edith Fellowes goes back to the past with Timmie, cares for him and shares his fate. There is a conflict between Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon. But when Edith shows up, things start to change. Both groups regard her as a goddess because of her different appearance and worship her.
Timmie grows up to be her assistant. Because of them, the Neanderthals in the book do not become extinct but co-exist with the Cro-Magnons. | high19772.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Be with her."
},
"options": [
"Take notes.",
"Be with her.",
"Buy medicine.",
"Give her gifts."
],
"question": "What are you advised to do for your mother at doctor's visits?",
"question_type": "factiod_ques... | Low-Cost Gifts for Mother's Day
Gift No. I
Offer to be your mother's health friend. Promise to be there for any and all doctor's visits
whether a disease or a regular medical check-up. Most mothers always say "no need," another set of eyes and ears is always a good idea at a doctor's visit. The best part ? This one is free.
Gift No. 2
Help your mother organize all of her medical records, which include the test results and medical information. Put them all in one place. Be sure to make a list of all of her medicines and what times she takes them. "Having all this information in one place could end up saving your mother's life," Dr. Marie Savard said.
Gift No. 3
Enough sleep is connected to general health conditions. "Buy your mother cotton sheets and comfortable pillows to encourage better sleep," Savard said. "We know that good sleep is very important to our health."
Gift No. 4
Some gift companies such as Presents for Purpose allow you to pay it forward this Mother's Day by picking gifts in which 10 percent of the price you pay goes to a charity Gift givers can choose from a wide variety of useful but inexpensive things -many of which are "green" - and then choose a meaningful charity from a list. When your mother gets the gift, she will be told that she has helped the chosen charity. | high4106.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "laughter can be tolerated"
},
"options": [
"smiling does good to health",
"laughter can be tolerated",
"there is a way to reduce pain",
"laughter can work the muscles in the feet"
],
"question": "Doctors have pr... | There is an English saying :"laughter is best medicine ."Until recently ,few people took the saying seriously .Now however ,doctors have begun to look into laughter and the effects it has on the human body .They have found that laughter really can improve people's health .
Tests were carried out to study the effects of laughter on the body .People watched funny films while doctors checked their hearts ,blood pressure ,breathing and muscles .It was found that laughter had similar effects to physical exercise .It increases blood pressure ,the heart beating and breathing ; it also works several groups of muscles in the face ,the stomach ,and even the feet .If laughter exercises the body ,it must be beneficial .
Other tests have shown that laughter appears to be able to reduce the effect of pain on the body .In one experiment doctors produced pain in groups of students who listened to different radio programmes .The group that tolerated the pain for the longest time was the groups which listened to a funny programme .The reason why laughter can reduce pain seems to be that it helps to produce a kind of chemicals in the brain which _ both stress and pain .
As a result of these discoveries ,some doctors in the United States now hold laughter clinics ,in which they help to improve their patients' condition by encouraging them to laugh .They have found that even if their patients do not really feel like laughing ,making them smile is enough to produce beneficial effects similar to those caused by laughter . | high2577.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Learned, independent and strict."
},
"options": [
"Learned, independent and strict.",
"Positive, simple and graceful.",
"Hardworking, dependent and tough.",
"Kind, determined and lonely."
],
"question": "Which o... | When it came to role models, Diana Ortiz said her mother, Marcia Dominguez, was the "hero". Ms. Dominguez came to the United States from Cuba in 1979. She went to college and got a job as a social worker --- all the while raising three children in America mostly on her own.
"It was always school first," Diana said, "My mom had us in a straight line. If we got out of line, she corrected us. She was a perfect woman. She was beautiful, she had the education and she had everything --- but the illness took over. When I was 11, it frightened me to see how quickly my mother's health was ruined by cancer. A week before I turned 14, my mother died at age 50. I had tried to prepare myself, but on the first morning I woke up without my mother, the sense of loss was painful."
Diana had not seen her father for five years, who refused to provide for her. Diana then entered the city's foster care system. She has spent about four years in foster homes.
Despite Diana's hard teenage years, the values her mother had planted in her mind inspired her to go after higher education. Since August 2010, she has been a fulltime student majoring in law. A public organization offers her tuition but she has part-time jobs to help people like her and earn more life experience. Her goal is a job in the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
For now, Diana works 20 hours a week as a cashier at Marshalls, earning $7.25 an hour. In November, she moved into her own public housing studio apartment on the Lower East Side. She pays $236 a month in rent. Although she is out of foster care, Diana has been speaking at workshops for foster youths. She emphasizes that nothing should get in the way of their success, not the trials of their lives or what they may have lost.
"I tell the young who have the similar experience like me, 'Why are you going to let what happened to you affect you in the long run?' " Diana said. " 'Why are you going to sit there and feel sorry for yourself? You're wasting precious time.' It is a message my mother would approve of. My mom taught me that everything is not given to you. You have to go out and get it." | high10030.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Unpleasant comments about another person aren't a \"safe\" topic."
},
"options": [
"Small talk only happens between strangers.",
"When people feel lonely, they will start small talk.",
"Unpleasant comments about another perso... | People with many different relationships use small talk. The most common types of people to use small talk are those who do not know each other at all. It is also common for people who are only acquaintances , often called a "friend of a friend", to use small talk.
There are certain "safe" topics that people usually make small talk about. The weather is probably the number one thing. Sometimes even friends and family members discuss the weather when they meet or start a conversation. Another topic that is generally "safe" is current events, such as sports news and entertainment news. If there is something that you and the other speaker have in common, that may also be acceptable to talk about. Negative comments about another person not involved in the conversation are not acceptable because you cannot be sure who his friends are when you do not know a person well.
People make small talk just about anywhere. Most often, small talk happens in places where people are waiting for something. For example, you might chat with another person who is waiting for the bus to arrive. Some social events (such as a party) require small talk among guests who do not know each other very well.
The most common time for small talk to happen is the first time you see or meet someone. However, the next time you see each other, you might just smile and say nothing. Do not interrupt two people in order to discuss something unimportant, such as the weather. If someone is reading a book or writing a letter in a waiting room, it is not proper to _ a conversation either. | high13539.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "The Caribbean is a place where hurricanes occur often."
},
"options": [
"There were no hurricanes two centuries ago.",
"The Caribbean is a state of the United States.",
"The Caribbean is a place where hurricanes occur often."... | For more than two days in September 1974, the people of Honduras shut their windows, locked their doors and covered in their homes. Fifi was outside, and they were frightened.
By the time Fifi had left, 8,000 people were dead, Fifi wasn't a pet dog as the name suggests. It was a hurricane, one of the most destructive natural phenomena in the world.
Why do we give human names to storms and hurricanes?
We didn't always. Two hundred years ago, many hurricanes in the Caribbean were named after the saint's day on which the storm occurred. Later, storms were known by the name of the city where they came ashore.
Meteorologists then tried naming storms after the latitude and longitude where they occurred.
Finally, in 1953, hurricanes started getting people's names --specifically, female names. Male names were added in 1979.
There are six sets of names for what the experts call "Atlantic tropical cyclones"( ).
Each list is used every six years and consists of 21 names, starting with every letter but Q, U, X, Y ,Z. the names alternate between male and female.
A storm won't get a name until its winds reach 39 mph or about 62.4 kph, at which point it becomes a tropical storm. At 74 mph or 118.4 kph it's declared a hurricane.
The 126 names on the list are used only for storms that form off the Atlantic coast of the US. There are separate lists for the Pacific.
So what happens if a hurricane should cross from the Atlantic to the Pacific? It's happened before. The storm just gets a new name and sometimes a new sex.
Max Mayfield is the director of the National Hurricane Centre, headquartered in Miami, Florida. He is in charge of picking new names for storms off the Atlantic coast.
He doesn't do it alone, though. His _ in two dozen other countries in the Caribbean, Central America and North America vote on what names will replace retired names. | high6711.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "shocked"
},
"options": [
"shocked",
"delighted",
"excited",
"attracted"
],
"question": "Guo Fenglian was _ at the sight of the modern equipment in harvesting when she visited the US in 1978.",
"question_... | FROM 1964 to 1978, Dazhai, with a population of 500, was the most famous village in China. Millions of Chinese came to the Shanxi village to visit its terraced fields and "splendid" irrigation systems.
It was not until 1978 when Guo Fenglian, head of the village, paid a visit to the US that China's model village found how far it had fallen behind those in developed countries.
"I was astonished at their modern equipment in harvesting, which could even separate big tomatoes with small ones," said Guo. "American farmers' life quality also impressed me a lot. Every day they had two cups of milk, which is something we don't have even in our wildest dreams."
"We have to learn their advanced technology and administration for our own development," said then first Deputy Prime Minister Deng Xiaoping who was planning China's reform and opening up policy then. "Through opening our doors, we would not only take advantage of foreign funds , but also create job opportunities and cultivate talents."
In 1978 Japanese electricity giant Panasonic came to China as the first foreign business to invest here and its success attracted other world brands into exploring the Chinese market. So far China has for 15 years taken in the world's second biggest foreign investment, following the US, to help set the country in a fast growth.
However, China's 30-year road of reform was not always smooth. Doubts on the reform began to rise at the end of the 1980s as many people worried the country would turn to capitalism .
"The criterion for our judgment is whether it helps develop socialist productive forces, whether it helps increase the overall national strength of a socialist country, and whether it brings about better living standards," said Deng.
"China's reform and opening up is a unique success story. It has brought benefit to both China and the world," said William Keller, chief manager of a Swiss pharmaceutical company. | high9422.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "He traveled a lot when he was a young child."
},
"options": [
"He was a pilot in the Royal Air Force.",
"He went to eight different schools in Africa.",
"He was encouraged to write by his father and stepfather.",
"He tr... | Philip Pullman spent a great deal of his childhood traveling abroad because both his father and stepfather were pilots in the Royal Air Force . As a child, he went on several long ocean voyages, and he lived in Africa and in Australia. "Before I was 11 I had been to eight different schools."
"In Australia, I made a great discovery. TV hadn't reached Australia yet, but everyone listened to the radio. I remember listening to gangster serials , and cowboy serials, and best of all--Superman! When I first saw a superman comic , it changed my life. I'd been reading books for a long time, but I'd never known comics before. Soon afterwards, I discovered Batman, too, whom I loved even more."
Pullman started writing his first novel the day after he had finished his final exams at Oxford University. "I discovered after about an hour that it was much harder than I'd expected. It still is! I found that the amount I could write comfortably every day was about three pages, so that's what I've done ever since."
Before he became a full-time writer, Pullman had been teaching for many years. "What I enjoyed most during that time was telling stories over and over, until I knew them as well as I knew my own life." He had always loved telling stories--as a schoolboy he had entertained his friends by reading stories to them, or by making up his own.
One day he got a letter that had arrived at his door even though the writer of the letter didn't know his address. The envelope just said, "Philip Pullman, The Storyteller, Oxford." | high14256.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "do some repairs"
},
"options": [
"do some research",
"do some repairs",
"be in memory to Columbia shuttle.",
"build a space station."
],
"question": "The US space shuttle Discovery was sent up mainly to _ .",... | The year 2006 was a busy one for space and technology workers. A planet lost its status and space flights caught the imagination of people around the world.
The following is a short list of the major events of the year: _
IBM has built a chip that runs about 100 times faster than the ones we have now. The development could lead to faster computers. The chip was first made in June. It can run at a speed of 500 gigahertz .
Pluto loses face
The International Astronomical Union created the first scientific definition of the word "planet" in August. Under the new rules, Pluto is no longer called a planet but a "dwarf planet" .
Pluto had been considered a planet since its discovery in 1930. For now, there are only the eight "classical" planets in the solar system : They are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
Woman space tourist
The first woman space tourist was launched on a Russian rocket from Kazakhstan on September 18. The flight carried a businesswoman, named Anousheh Ansari, along with a fresh crew for the International Space Station (ISS). Ansari is a 40-year-old American. She has paid at least US$20 million for the trip. She returned on September 28 after her eight-day stay at the International Space Station.
Discovery sent up
The US space shuttle Discovery took seven astronauts on a 12-day repair mission to the International Space Station on December 9. It was the first night launch by NASA in four years. The last one ended in the failure of the space shuttle Columbia in 2003. | high7369.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "An insect."
},
"options": [
"A small animal.",
"An insect.",
"A bird.",
"A giant."
],
"question": "What is an ant?",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
... | There was once an ant that was very thirsty.
It ran here and there looking for some water but could not find any.
Then suddenly, when the ant was almost ready to die of thirst, a large drop of water fell on it.
The ant drank the water, which saved its life.
The water was actually a tear from a young girl who was crying. Because of her sadness, the tear had magical qualities and suddenly the ant could speak the language of human beings.
The ant looked up and saw the young girl sitting in front of a huge pile of seeds.
"Why are you sad?" asked the ant.
"I'm the prisoner of a giant." the girl told the ant. " He won't let me go until I've made three separate heaps of grain, barley and rye out of this huge pile of seeds in which they are all mixed together."
"That will take you a month!" the ant said, looking at the huge pile of seeds.
"I know," the girl cried, "and if I haven't finished by tomorrow, the giant will eat me for his supper!"
"Don't cry," the ant said, "my friends and I will help you."
Soon thousands of ants were at work, separating the three kinds of seeds.
The next morning, when the giant saw that the work had been done, he let the girl go.
Thus it was one of her tears that saved her life. | high22082.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "got flu shots at the flu season"
},
"options": [
"got flu shots after they were ill",
"got flu shots before they were ill",
"got flu shots at the flu season",
"got flu shots whenever convenient"
],
"question": "... | Researchers conducting a study of hospital stays for over two hundred and eighty six thousand older folks found something interesting in their data.
The number of hospitalizations for heart disease and stroke went down significantly among a certain group of people at a certain time of year. What folks, and what time of year, you ask? Flu season and the lucky people were the ones who got flu shots .
It's generally recommended that people over fifty get their flu shots every year. Influenza is no small thing. it's responsible for around thirty six thousand deaths a year in the U. S. alone. Getting the shots also cuts down on the chances of getting pneumonia , which is especially dangerous in seniors.
But what wasn't known was that there seems to be an added benefit to getting a flu shots in terms of _ heart problems. The data,in fact, are quite strong in suggesting this is the case.
In this study, flu shots cut clown the number of hospitalizations for heart disease by nineteen percent. Stroke went down sixteen percent one season and a whopping twenty-three percent a second season.These are big results.
So what's the connection between getting a flu shot and having a stronger heart? It isn't yet known.
Researchers speculate that the flu virus itself may do damage to blood vessels , possibly making clots more likely. Blood clots in the heart can cause heart attacks, and blood clots in the brain can cause strokes.
Whatever the specific details are, there's one more good reason to follow your doctor' s advice and get that annual flu shot. | high6077.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Excited."
},
"options": [
"Disappointed.",
"Excited.",
"Worried.",
"Proud."
],
"question": "How did the author feel when receiving the handwritten letter?",
"question_type": null
},
{
"answer": {
... | What's this by my door? A handwritten letter from am old university friend. It stands out among the bills and junk mail like gold. Given its rareness, the Government should be praised for announcing that the new secondary school should include lessons that teach students how to write personal and business letters in the correct form.
Letter-writing skills have fallen off a lot in the age of eamils and text messages. Many pupils leave school only able to write a letter for a job application, let alone other kinds of letters. You can't turn back the clock, but you can stick to your own rules to protect old-fashioned values. Someone who leaves school unable to write a letter is going into the adult world unprepared. And if teachers don't _ , who else will?
Usually, it does not matter whether someone can write a letter or not -- other means of communication will serve. And with computerised spell-checks, people can get by for years without the kind of letter-writing skills. But it is the rare occasion that matters when things can not be made clear with a simple text. When the former England cricket captain Andrew Strauss decided to leave his job, he had sent handwritten letters to his teammates. Many people thought it unbelievable. But among the disbelief there was something else: admiration, even among the Twitter generation .
I have been a letter-writing lover all my adult life, and am just about to sit down and pen a reply to my university friend. And I hope the sight of a letter by his door will give him as much pleasure as his did me. | high9344.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "be clear about their main ideas"
},
"options": [
"express their personal views",
"be clear about their main ideas",
"be honest about their true feelings",
"give as much information as possible"
],
"question": "A... | To understand how Americans think about things, it is necessary to understand "the point". Americans mention it often: "Let's get right to the point." They will say, "My point is..." "What's the point of all this?"
The "point" is the idea or piece of information that Americans suppose is, or should be, at the center of people's thinking, writings, and spoken comments. Speakers and writers are supposed to "make their points clear", meaning that they are supposed to say or write clearly the idea or piece of information they wish to express.
People from many other cultures have different ideas about the point. Africans traditionally tell stories that express the thoughts they have in mind, rather than stating the point clearly. Japanese traditionally speak indirectly, leaving the listener to figure out what the point is. Thus, while an American might say to a friend, "I don't think that coat goes very well with the rest of your _ ," a Japanese might say, "Maybe another coat would look even better than the one you have on." Americans value a person who "gets right to the point". Japanese are likely to consider such a person insensitive if not rude.
The Chinese and Japanese languages are characterized by vagueness and ambiguity. The precision and directness Americans associate with "the point" cannot be achieved, at least not with any grace, in Chinese and Japanese. Speakers of those languages thus have to learn a new way of reasoning and expressing their ideas if they are going to communicate satisfactorily with Americans. | high14530.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "when he was going to return."
},
"options": [
"soon after he started working in Edinburgh .",
"when he got engaged to his sweet-heart .",
"after her marriage.",
"when he was going to return."
],
"question": "The... | A group of travelers were having dinner in a restaurant .While they were eating fish, they began to tell stories about finding valuable stones inside fish .
An old man ,who had listened to their conversation quietly ,said at last ,"Now I'm going to tell you a true story of my own .When I was young ,I worked in a large company in London .As is usual with other young people ,I fell in love with a pretty girl .Soon we were engaged .Two months before our marriage ,I was suddenly sent to Edinburgh on business .My stay was a bit longer than I had expected .At last my work was done and I left for home .Before I left Edinburgh , I bought a nice diamond ring for my sweet-heart .On my way to London ,I was looking through a newspaper .It was then that I learned of my sweet-heart's getting married to another man. I was so sad that I threw the diamond ring into the water. A few days later, when I was eating fish ,I bit on something very hard .What do you think it was?
"The diamond ring ," shouted his friends . "No," said the old man sadly ,It was a fish bone. | high1718.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "60 years old"
},
"options": [
"50 year old",
"60 years old",
"70 years old",
"80 years old"
],
"question": "According to the survey, many Chinese people surveyed feel old before they are _ .",
"question_t... | A recent survey made by BUPA, an international healthcare provider, shows that 54 percent of Chinese people aged between 45 and 54 consider themselves old, while 28 percent say that the thought of getting old upsets them. 25 percent are afraid of getting old, and a third worry about life in old age.
BUPA made the survey among 12,262 people from 12 countries over 2 months, starting in June 2010. The survey shows that 72 percent of international participants aged over 65 don't feel old and that 67 percent still feel healthy. On the other hand, 65 percent of Chinese feel old even before reaching 60. About one third of those surveyed in China said they have enough savings , and 46 percent are insured . Around 60 percent of the Chinese participants hope they will be taken care of by family members.
According to the survey, the French hold the most positive attitude towards getting old, with 32 percent of them considering age 80 and up old. 17 percent of Brazilians look forward to old age, compared with 3 percent globally. Indians are not bothered by old age, as 70 percent said that they don't feel that they will be affected by old age and 71 percent say they have already made preparations for this stage of life. The illnesses that most people around the world are worried about are cancer and Alzheimer's disease. | high2211.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "the strict headmaster"
},
"options": [
"the writer's teacher",
"a serious old man",
"the strict headmaster",
"a naughty boy"
],
"question": "\"Mr Ghastly\" must be _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"... | After an absence of thirty years, I decided to visit my old school again. I had expected to find changes, but not a completely different building. As I walked up the school drive, I wondered for a moment if I had come to the right address. The dirty red brick houses had been swept away. In its place stood a bright, modern block. A huge expanse of glass extended across the face of the building, and in front, there was a well-kept lawn where previously there had been "an untidy gravel yard".
I was pleased to find that it was bread time and that the children were all in the playground. This would enable me to meet some members of staff . On entering the building, I was surprised to hear loud laughter coming from what appeared to be the masters' common room. I could not help remembering the teachers in my time, all dressed in black gowns and high collars . And above all, I recalled Mr Garston whom we had nicknamed "Mr Ghastly", the headmaster who had iron discipline on staff and pupils alike. I knocked at the common room door and was welcomed by a smiling young man who introduced himself to me as the headmaster. He was dressed casually in a sports jacket, and his cheerful manner, quickly dispelled the image of Mr Ghastly. After I had explained who I was, the headmaster presented me to the teachers all of whom were a little younger than himself, and said he would take me round the school.
Here the biggest surprise of all was _ me. Gone were the heavy desks of old with their deeply carved names; gone too, were the dark classrooms with their ink stained, dark brown walls, and their raised platforms for the teachers. The rooms now were painted in bright colors, and the children, far from sitting straight in their places, seemed almost free to do as they liked. I looked with envy as I remembered how, as a child, I had looked at the blackboard hardly daring to whisper to my neighbor. | high10756.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "By picking up and moving challenging articles."
},
"options": [
"By using chopsticks before all the teachers.",
"By writing a paper about chopsticks.",
"By picking up and moving challenging articles.",
"By being asked t... | TOKYO--Applicants to a private high school for girls in Sasebo in southern Nagasaki Prefecture will be asked lo hold and move various small objects including beans and marbles with chopsticks as part of the entrance exam.
"This is simply one factor to assess whether these girls can handle chopsticks correctly, which is really the most basic element in education," said Katushi Hisata, the vice principal of Hisata Gakuen Girls' High School.
"It's surprising to see how many children don't know how to hold chopsticks correctly, which is part of the Japanese culture's beauty," he told AFP by telephone, adding that only 20 percent of elementary students use chopsticks correctly. The westernization of Japan's eating habits means that use of the knife and fork is increasingly common, while a growing number of children with working parents eat alone, leaving them less _ in chopsticks etiquette .
The school's vice principal accused celebrities appearing on television food and cookery shows of using chopsticks wrongly.
The school, built in 1902, has traditional classes in tea ceremony, kimono-fitting, etiquette and cooking as part of the wider curriculum."We are aware that this kind of exam won't make students jump up and come running to us, because this is unlike normal high schools that advertise success rates of students entering prestigious universities," Hisata said."But we do know that education is not only about having brains, but also etiquette," he added. | high20695.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Web users would never pay for the websites"
},
"options": [
"companies on the Internet would earn a lot of money",
"Web users would never pay for the websites",
"it was impossible to visit websites for free",
"all the c... | The idea of micropayments--- charging Web users tiny amounts of money for single pieces of online content--- was basically put to sleep toward the end of the dot-com boom. In December 2000, Clay Shirky, a professor in New York University's interactive telecommunications program , wrote a manifesto that people still quote whenever someone suggests using the idea. "Micropayments will never work," he wrote, mainly because "users hate them."
But wait. Without many people noticing, micropayments have arrived--- just not in the way they were originally imagined. The 99 cents you pay for a song on the Internet is a micropayment. So are the tiny amounts that some operators of small web sites can earn whenever someone clicks on the ads on their pages. Some stock-photography companies sell pictures for as little as $1 each.
"Micropayments are here" said Benjamin M. Companie, a lecturer atprefix = st1 /NortheasternUniversity, "they just have not developed in the way that everybody expected."
From the earliest days of the Web until around the time of Mr Shirky's manifesto, the expectation was that a handful of companies would provide platforms---or perhaps a single platform--- that would enable Web users to pay a penny or a dollar for a bit of content such as a newspaper article, or a research report. Simply clicking a link would complete the transaction .
Sellers of content--- at the time, newspaper companies---were among the most interested in the idea as they looked for tax income that didn't depend on advertising. | high17039.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Glastonbury Festival"
},
"options": [
"Download Festival",
"Latitude Festival",
"Shrewsbury Folk Festival",
"Glastonbury Festival"
],
"question": "Which festival is one of the oldest festivals in the UK?",
"... | Glastonbury Festival:
Time and place: 22nd~26th June, Pilton, Somerse. Recognized as the best summer festival season, Glastonbury is one of the biggest and oldest festivals in the UK. Last year's 40th anniversary was their best ever, even though the supergroup U2 canceled last minute because of Bono injuring his back.
Latitude Festival:
Time and place:14th~17th July, Henham Park, Suffolk. Now in its sixth year, this festival is the choice for more families. It is providing visitors with a range of entertainment to accompany the music, including comedy, show, theatre and literature.
Shrewsbury Folk Festival:
Time and place: 26th~29th August, West Mids Show Ground, Shrewsbury. Announced as one of the best folk festivals in the UK, this festival is only in its sixth year. It takes place over the 4 days of the August bank holiday weekend, and moved to Shrewsbury in 2006.
Download Festival:
Time and place: 10th and 12th, June, Donington Park Derby. It is a three-day rock music festival held every year. The name Download was chosen for the festival for two reasons. Downloading was a dirty work in the music industry at the time because of file sharing and rock is seen as a rebellious type of music. | high19014.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "ask your money back ."
},
"options": [
"ask your money back .",
"learn it again for free.",
"change your teacher .",
"ask Dr.Pimsleur for help."
],
"question": "If you can not speak a foreign language in ten day... | How You Can Learn a Language in Only 10 Days
Most people recognize the many benefits of learning a foreign language: You can travel to foreign countries and feel comfortable, be a more productive and attractive employee in today's competitive job market, and immerse yourself in the vast cultures around the world. In addition, scientific studies have shown that learning a new language helps to keep memories sharp and naturally improves brain function.
But do you know that you can learn a new language in as little as 10 days? The Pimsleur Approach to learning new languages help users pick up new languages quickly .Even the FBI and National Security Agency have purchased the Pimsleur Approach.
The Pimsleur Languag Programs
The entire Pimsleur Approach is what language learning should be : quick, fun and easy. You will learn a new language effortlessly without any reading, writing or computer use. The Pimsleur Approach has a 100 percent guarantee : speak in 10 days or you don't pay.
Who is Dr. Pimsleur?
Pimsleur Approach is a language educator. He noticed that children have an amazing ability to learn new languages quickly. He spent his life developing this course to let you , as an adult , learn a new language as easily as a child would .You might not realize it , but you have already learned one language using the Pimsleur Approach.
Limited availability of special offers
The company is currently offering new customers a special offer of 50 % discount on tuition fees.The programs which normally cost $100 are now available for just %50. Better yet ,they are also offering a money-back guarantee. So ,if you find you are not learning as fast as they said , simply return it for a full payment .
For more information , please click here. | high4660.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "wildlife of all kinds returning to large cities to live"
},
"options": [
"wildlife of all kinds returning to large cities to live",
"falcons in New York , Baltimore , Philadelphia , and Norfolk",
"moose running into glass doo... | One thing the tour books don't tell you about London is that 2,000 of its residents are foxes , which fled the city about centuries ago after developers and pollution moved in . But now that the environment is cleaner , the foxes have come home , one of the many wild animals that have moved into urban areas around the world .
Several changes have brought wild animals to the concrete jungles . First of all , air and water quality in many cities has improved as a result of the 1970s' pollution control efforts . meanwhile , rural areas have been built up , leaving many animals on the edges of suburban areas . In addition , conservationists have created urban wildlife shelters .
" The number and variety of wild animals in urban areas is increasing , " says Gomez Jones . One of the country's largest populations of raccoons now lives in Washington , D.C. , and moose are regularly seen wandering into Maine towns . Peregrine falcons dive from the window edges of buildings in the largest U.S. cities to hunt for pigeons .
For peregrine falcons , cities are actually safer than rural areas . By 1970 the birds had died out east of the Mississippi because the DDT , a widely used poison to kill insects , had made their eggs too thin to support life . That year , Tom Cade began raising the birds for release in cities , for cities afforded abundant food in the form of pigeons and contained none of the peregrines' natural enemies .
" Before they died out , some migrated to cities on their own because they had run out of natural habitats , " Cade says . " To peregrines , buildings are just like natural habitats . " He has released about 30 birds since 1975 in New York , Baltimore , Philadelphia and Norfolk , and of the 20 pairs now living in the East , half are originally born in the city . " A few of the young ones have gotten into trouble by falling down chimneys and crashing into window glass , but overall their adjustment has been successful . " | high12169.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "he was a driver and had a lot of work to do"
},
"options": [
"he was a worker",
"he worked in a factory",
"he was a driver and had a lot of work to do",
"he had worked there for a long time"
],
"question": "Mr. ... | Mr. Lang worked in a factory. As a driver he was busy but he was paid much. His wife was an able woman and did all the housework. When he came back, she took good care of him and he never did anything at home. So he had enough time when he had a holiday. A few friends of his liked gambling and he learned it soon. So he was interested in it and hardly forgot anything except gambling. He lost all his money and later he began to sell the television, watches and so on. His wife told him not to do it but he didn't listen to her. She had to tell the police. He and his friends were punished for it. And he was nearly sent away. After he came out of lock-up , he hated her very much and the woman had to leave him. It was New Year's Day. Mr. Lang didn't go to work. He felt lonely and wanted to gamble again. He called his friends and they came soon. But they were afraid the police would come. He told his five-year-old son to go to find out if there were the policemen outside. They waited for a long time and didn't think the police would come and began to gamble. Suddenly a few policemen opened the door and came in.
"I saw there weren't any policemen outside, Daddy" said the boy "So I went to the crossing and asked some to come." | high15606.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "they use the fishing ways, which destroy the coral reefs"
},
"options": [
"they defend their rights of mining the coral reefs too eagerly",
"they wake up too late to realize the terrible situation",
"they use the fishing ways... | Indonesia's coral reefs are in trouble. Coral mining, Industrial pollution and poisonous agricultural runoff all play a role in their destruction, but the fishermen have been the worst offenders. They not only bomb fish but also poison them with cyanide, an equally destructive practice. The fishermen are also among the biggest potential victims . Two thirds of Indonesia's 7, 000 coastal villages are close to coral reefs and thus depend for their livelihood on the harvest of reef fish. The disappearing reefs are already leading to a dramatic decline in the productivity of coastal fisheries and to increasing fights among fishermen.
Indonesia's reefs are vast - they cover 51, 000 square kilometers, surround 17, 500 islands and stretch 3,500 kilometers - but they are not infinite. Many foreign experts and Indonesians fear that the region's entire marine environment could be seriously damaged if the reefs keep dying at their present rate. "The overall picture is depressing," says Ian Dutton, Indonesian director of an environmental group.
Depressing, but not hopeless. Despite the destruction, environmentalists have in recent years made significant progress in changing the hearts and minds of the fishermen. Working closely with local Indonesian authorities in North Sulawesi and less populated eastern Indonesia, where most of the country's reefs are located, they have succeeded in preventing destructive fishing practices and coral mining from overwhelming the reefs.
Increasing numbers of fishermen are waking up to the threat and protecting the life-sustaining coral before it's too late. Nuhung, a 56-year-old fisherman, says, "I always knew blast fishing was harmful. Then I suddenly realized that by bombing the reefs I was destroying not only my own but my children's future." | high7341.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "When an ant dies, it can tell others using a certain chemical."
},
"options": [
"Living ants can also be taken away when they are not moving.",
"When an ant dies, it can tell others using a certain chemical.",
"A living ant c... | When an ant dies, other ants take it out of the nest, often within an hour after its death. This behavior interests scientists and they wonder how ants know for sure--and so soon--that another ant is dead.
One scientist recently came up with a way to explain this ant behaviour. Dong-Hwan Choe is a biologist, a scientist who studies animals and plants. He found that ants have a chemical on the outside of their bodies that signals to other ants, "I'm dead--take me away" when it is dead.
But there's a question to answer: As we know, if an ant is dead, it stops moving. But when an ant is sleeping or knocked unconscious, it is also not moving. However, other ants don't move the living ant out of the nest. How do they know this ant is not dead? Choe found that ants have another chemical on their bodies, which tells nearby ants something like, "Wait--I'm not dead yet" when it is not dead. Choe suspects that when an ant dies, the chemical that says, "Wait I'm not dead yet" quickly goes away. When other ants detect the "dead" chemical without the "not dead yet" chemical, they move away the body.
To test his theory , Choe and his team put different chemicals on ants. When the scientists used the "I'm dead" chemical, other ants quickly moved the treated ant away. When the scientists used the "Wait--I'm not dead yet" chemical, other ants left the treated ant alone. Choe believes this behavior shows that the "not dead yet" chemical _ the "dead" chemical when picked up by other ants. And that when an ant dies, the "not dead yet" chemical fades away. Other nearby ants then detect the remaining "dead" chemical and remove the body from the nest.
Understanding this behavior can help scientists figure out how to stop ants from invading new places and causing problems. | high1730.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "a kind of sea animal"
},
"options": [
"a kind of sea animal",
"some poisonous animals",
"scientists' research into box jellyfish",
"the relationship between humans and jellyfish"
],
"question": "The text is main... | Box jellyfish are the most poisonous marine animals known to man. They measure 3 meters long and weigh up to 2 kilograms. They are pale blue and transparent in color, and get their name from the cube--like shape of their body, Box jellyfish have 6 eyes on all 4 sides of their body, although it is uncertain how they process what they see as they do not have a central nervous system. They also have up to 15 tentacles growing from each corner of their body that have about 5,000 stinging cells each.
Box jellyfish can be found primarily in the coastal waters off Northern Australia as well as throughout the Indo--Pacific. They prefer to live at river mouths. They do not have any organs to breathe, and will sleep on the ocean floor from 3 pm to dawn. Unlike other jellyfish that merely move along with the current, box jellyfish have developed a way to travel wherever they want to go. _ will shoot themselves in a jet-like fashion, reaching speeds of up to 7.4 kilometers per hour.
The diet of box jellyfish consists of thing like fish, small animals, and even other jellyfish. They use their venom, a chemical which causes heart, skin, and breath failure, to kill their prey . Since box jellyfish have eyes, some scientists believe that they actively hunt their prey while others insist that they are just passive opportunists that will wait and catch anything that wanders into their tentacles.
Box jellyfish are responsible for more human deaths in Australia than snakes, sharks, and salt-water crocodiles combined. It is best to avoid them as most stings will result in death. Hopefully, humans and box jellyfish can find a way to live with one another while keeping conflicts to a bare minimum. After all, such a unique species of jellyfish deserves to live and grow just as humans do. | high13277.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "remember words and their meanings"
},
"options": [
"put together words of similar meanings",
"remember words and their meanings",
"show their knowledge of words",
"make up lists of related words"
],
"question": ... | Scientists say they now have proof to support the old-fashioned advice that it's best to sleep on a problem. They say sleep strengthens the memory and helps the brain organize the masses of information we receive each day.
Lead researcher Bob Stickgold at the Harvard Medical School said, "Sleep helps us draw rules from our experiences. It's like knowing the difference between dogs and cats even if it's hard to explain."
The US research team studied how well students remembered connections between words and symbols , reports New Scientist. They compared how the students performed if they had had a sleep between seeing the words and having the test, and if they had not slept. They found that people were better able to remember lists of related words after a night's sleep than after the same time spent awake during the day. They also found it easier to remember themes that the words had in common. But they forgot around one in four more themes if they had been awake. Prof. John Groeger, of Surrey University's Sleep Research Centre, said, "People have been trying for years to find out what the purpose of sleep is, as we know that only certain parts of it have a restorative value. " "We form and store huge numbers of experiences in the head every day, and sleep seems to be the way the brain deals with it all." | high4890.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "They do not have scientific basis."
},
"options": [
"They are pearls of wisdom",
"They help us live in healthy ways",
"They are well-known theories.",
"They do not have scientific basis."
],
"question": "What do... | "Hey, don't read in the hallway. Your eyesight will be damaged." You must have heard such warnings many times. Don't read in dim light! This is one of the "pearls of wisdom" that are supposed to help us live a healthy life. Such common beliefs, however, lack scientific basis, according to a paper published recently in theBritish Medical Journal.
Do you believe in the following everyday wisdom?
Reading in dim light ruins your eyesight.
In dim light, you might blink more, feel discomfort from drying and have trouble focusing. But the majority of eye experts believe it is unlikely to do any permanent damage.
We must drink at least eight glasses of water a day
In 1945, the Nutrition Council in US suggested that people need to consume 2.5 litres of water a day. But the water contained in food, particularly fruit and vegetables, as well as in milk, juice and soft drinks, also counts towards the total.
We only use 10 percent of our brains.
This myth arose as early as 1907. People have long argued about our power of self-improvement and our brains' potential abilities. But detailed imaging shows that no area of the brain is silent or inactive.
Shaving your legs causes hair to grow black faster and thicker.
This theory is also illusion. Shaving has no effect on the thickness or rate of hair growth,
studies say. Just over time, the edge of hair gets worn away and thus the edge of long hair becomes finer . So hair that is newly grown gives the impression of darkness. | high2239.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "If you get something free, you will not treasure it."
},
"options": [
"Athletes are too proud to give up.",
"Gain is necessary for getting your pain.",
"If you get something free, you will not treasure it.",
"The author... | It was a beautiful summer afternoon. I happened to be at a local Walmart picking up some stuff for my wife when I laid my eyes on two young ladies. They were walking confidently, with their heads held high, which made me believe that they were involved in some kind of competitive sport. They were wearingT-shirts, at the back of which printed, "Pain is temporary, but pride is forever." Thinking of these words, I automatically said to myself, "That's right! No pain, no gain."
Whatever is worth having is worth fighting for, and with fight, there comes pain! Fortunately, pain is just temporary. However, it is a necessary step you need to take to get your gain.
Athletes and their coaches understand this so well. They spend so many hours and so much effort preparing for a competition. Some will think about giving up when the training is so painful, but coaches are there to remind them that "quitters never win and winners never quit".. So they know that when victory comes, they will be proud of themselves and that pride can last a lifetime.
You've probably heard the saying, "There's no such thing as a free lunch." Well, it is true. Everything in life has a price, whether you agree or not. To want something for free will always lead to deception. Even if you get it, you will not value it or enjoy it, because it is free.
No one has told you that life is easy! In fact it is a series of struggles and fights. You will achieve what other people call "impossible" only when you are willing to endure pain and overcome fear and doubt. Your achievement in life is in direct proportion to how much sacrifice you are willing to make.
Successful people are usually and wrongly labeled as lucky or highly favored by circumstances. However, if you hear their personal stories, you will realize that they went through a lot of trials, but still kept on going, enduring the pain to make where they are today. If we understand that every effect has its cause, then we will grasp the fact that we do have a chance to influence the outcome we get in life. | high18322.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "After her birthday."
},
"options": [
"On her birthday.",
"After her birthday.",
"Before Barbara and Mary left.",
"As soon as she telephone her friends."
],
"question": "When did Jane have the party?",
"quest... | The week after Jane's birthday, Barbara and Mary were away. Jane decided to have a late birthday party. She telephoned several friends. She asked some to bring records, some to bring food and others to bring something to drink. She rang another friend to see if she could borrow his record player. She herself bought some food and drink to get the party going. She took up all the carpets so that they could dance. She did not know whether Barbara and Mary would have approved , but as long as she was careful, she was sure that they would not mind. She warned the two people in the flat above and invited them down.
"Oh, " said Jane, surprised. "What's all this about? "
The first guests arrived soon after eight. The music was soon playing loudly and they started dancing. Some of Jane's friends brought other friends with them. As more and more people arrived,the noise increased. People started shouting at each other, so they turned the music up. This made it more difficult to hear each other above the music, so they shouted more loudly. At half past ten the bell rang. "Turn down the music!" someone shouted. "Someone probably called the police." When Jane opened the door, there was a policeman standing there. She started to apologize, "I'm sorry about all the noise, officer. But you see, it was my birthday last week and I'm having a party." "Never mind about that, miss. We're here because of something much more important."
"Well, there's been a report of burglary . We think the thief may have come to your party, pretending to be a friend of someone here. " | high5556.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "The word \"the\" was used to describe only the leaf."
},
"options": [
"The Japanese write the character for tea the same way as we Chinese.",
"It was a Chinese Emperor who first found tea very refreshing.",
"The word \"the\" ... | The Mandarin Chinese word for "cha" is pronounced "t'e" in certain Chinese dialects . Also the Malay word for the leaf is"the". This word "the" was used to describe both the drink and the leaf. The Japanese character for tea is written exactly the same as the Chinese, though pronounced with a slight difference; so these may be the origins of our word tea in the western world.
Tea may have been discovered in 2737 BC by Shen Nong, a Chinese Emperor of the San Huang Period(3,000 - 2,700 BC). He was a scholar, the father of agriculture and the inventor of Chinese herbal medicine. One summer day, while visiting a distant place, he and the court stopped to rest and his servants began to boil water for the court to drink. Dried leaves from the nearby bush fell into the boiling water, and made it a brown liquid. The Emperor was interested in the new liquid, drank some, and found it very refreshing. The tree was a wild tea tree, and so, tea was created.
The first samples of tea reached England between 1652 and 1654. Tea was referred to as the China drink, tcha, chaw, tay, tee, and tea and was at first regarded more as a medicine than a fashionable drink. The original English pronunciation of the word tea was "tay" and can be traced back to around 1655 when the Dutch introduced both word and beverage to England. The pronunciation "tee" also originated in the 1600's but only gained predominance after the late 18th century.
By 1650 the Dutch were actively involved in trade throughout the Western world. During that year Peter Stuyvesant brought the first tea to America to the colonists in the Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam (later re-named New York). | high4648.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "a police dog"
},
"options": [
"a young man",
"a policeman",
"a police dog",
"a good friend"
],
"question": "Jack is the name of _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
"ans... | Almost everyone likes dogs, and almost everyone likes reading stories about dogs.
I have a friend. The friend has a large police dog. Its name is Jack. Police dogs are often very clever. Every Sunday afternoon my friend takes Jack for a long walk in the park. Jack likes these long walks very much.
One Sunday afternoon a young man came to visit my friend. He stayed a long time. He talked and talked. Soon it was time for my friend to take Jack for his walk. But the visitor still stayed. Jack became very worried. He walked around the room several times and then sat down in front of the visitor and looked at him. But the visitor paid no attention. He continued talking. Finally Jack couldn't stand it. He went out of the room and came back a few minutes later. He sat down again in front of the visitor but this time he held the visitor's hat in his mouth and ran out of the room. | high11460.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Keep Up with the Latest Weblish"
},
"options": [
"Technology and English",
"Keep Up with the Latest Weblish",
"Don't Forget English",
"The Advantage and Disadvantages of Weblish"
],
"question": "The best title f... | With the rapid progress of technology, the English language is changing fast. All the people have to face a choice: either ignore the development of the language and spend the rest of our lives wishing Shakespeare were alive, or keep pace with the Internet age, welcoming the new English which someone has once called Weblish. "you can't avoid it for the simple reason that wherever a new language comes along, it surely impacts the language as a whole," says Dr David Crystal, a famous language professor at the University of Wales.
However, there is great trouble with keeping up with the new English because there are so many new words and the old ones no longer mean what we thought they did. In the past if someone said they didn't have "Windows", you would have to suppose they lived in a cave without windows. But now, it is probably because they use a Mac, which is a computer. Spam, which once meant a not-so-good-kind of canned meat, now stands for unwanted "junk " email.
Spelling is changing too. Weblish loves to see nouns happily become verbs ( for example, "Please bookmark this site"), and verbs become nouns ("Send me the download").Verbs and prepositions are regularly thrown together to become new nouns or adjectives(for example, dial-up, logon, print-out, pull-down, upload), while others are created from a simple pairing of nouns: cyberspace, ethernet, Internet, hyperlink, metatag and netspeak. | high3127.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Medicine."
},
"options": [
"Pet.",
"Food.",
"Medicine.",
"Sports."
],
"question": "According to the author, in which field can animals be most useful?",
"question_type": null
},
{
"answer": {
"... | A recent survey in the United States showed that the average family spent more money on its pets than on its children. Although rather shocking, it should not surprise anyone who has seen the doggy parlors where loved pets rest. Are Americans unique in treating their little friends in this way? No, the English, too, pay more attention to their pets.
This can clearly be seen when we look at pet foods, which often contain more vitamins than human food. They certainly cost much. Last year the British public spent two hundred million pounds on pet food alone, to say nothing of veterinary bills or animal furniture. It is difficult not to feel angry about this when considering what the same amount could do for victims of starvation and poverty, so it is not unusual for me _ when I read an old man left all his money to his dog instead of his children.
There are a variety of reasons why I find pets-raising alarming. They cause physical problems. An example of this is New York where they have great difficulty getting rid of the mess that dogs leave on the streets. Many people find this funny, but in a number of large cities it is a major problem. Animals can cause disease, too. It is the threat of rabies -- a disease with no known cure.
Another problem is the carelessness of pet owners. Most little children want a dog or a cat, and they continually push their mothers and fathers until they get one. It is only when the "sweet little thing" has been brought home that the parents realize how much time and money must be spent on "Rover" or "Bonzo". Then they just abandon it. As a result, they are allowed to run free. English farmers lose hundreds of sheep a year, killed by someone's pet and you must have read of children being hurt by some pets of their own.
Lastly, I would only suggest that we have got our priorities wrong and that something should be done about it. In my view, it's time we stopped being sentimental about pets. I can see no reason why we should get upset when animals are cut up for medical experiments. This will lead us to discovering cures for serious human diseases, then I say, "keep cutting!" | high11306.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "He believes they play an important environmental role."
},
"options": [
"He shows no opinion either for or against them.",
"He thinks that they are unnecessary and cruel.",
"He believes they play an important environmental ro... | Zoos divide opinion : there are those who think it is cruel to keep animals locked up while others believe zoos are essential for the survival of endangered species.
To argue that zoos imprison animals is to misunderstand what zoos are about. Without zoos many of the creatures we love and admire would no longer exist. Every single day,over one hundred animal species vanish. Scientists predict that as early as 2050 one quarter of the Earth's species will become extinct.
Some animals are in danger because they are hunted. Alarmingly, the population of tigers has already fallen by ninety-five percent. Other species are in danger because of a lack of food. For example, there are fewer than 1300 giant pandas left in the wild.
Zoos have special breeding programmes to help those animals at risk. These breeding programmes are proving extremely successful. As Irene Shapiro from Zoo and Wildlife Support says, "the Puerto Rican Parrot has grown in numbers from just thirteen to about eighty-five and the Golden Lion Tamarin Monkey, which has almost ceased to exist twenty years ago, has been reintroduced back into the wild. "
Unfortunately, not everyone understands this important role zoos play. For example, Brian Featherstone from the Anti-Zoo Forum says, "I can't believe we take animals from the wild and put them in cages for the entertainment of the public! We should view them on film or TV in their natural environment.,'
However, this misses the point. A zoo does more than display animals to the public. It ensures their survival. Without zoos you would not be able to see many of these animals on TV or anywhere else! | high3641.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Because her sister was in the house while she was out."
},
"options": [
"Because her sister had done that before.",
"Because her sister needed the homework.",
"Because her sister didn't get along well with her.",
"Becau... | One Tuesday, we got up, had breakfast and got ready for school. We picked up our school bags and went to school. I opened my school bag to get my homework after I went into the classroom and sat down. My school homework needed to be handed in. But it was not there! I remembered I had put it in my school bag.
I thought back to Monday afternoon. I finished my school homework, put it in my school bag, and went out to play softball with the neighbor kids. My sister Sara was not out playing as usual. She read a book inside the house. She must have taken my homework while I was playing softball outside as no kids came inside our house on Monday.
After school I ran to the place where my sister and I usually meet. There was Sara. She didn't seem to be laughing at me. She is good at giving false information. "Sara, what have you done with my homework?" I asked. She said she hadn't seen it! "What should I do?" I thought. I waited for a chance to talk to Mom.
In Mom ' s room, I cried and shouted: I couldn't help shaking. I told her about my missing school homework. Hearing this, Mom left the room, went into the kitchen hurriedly and started looking in the trash. She pulled my school homework out of the trash! Mom said, "I' m sorry, Teri. I saw that your school bag was too heavy, so I cleaned it out for you. Your homework didn't look any different from the waste paper which I threw away."
I realized that I had misunderstood my sister. I apologized to her. And I learnt a good lesson from this experience. | high18444.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "to prevent models from suffering from eating disorders"
},
"options": [
"to change the working conditions of models",
"to prevent models from suffering from eating disorders",
"to lower the chance of skinny models' death",
... | An Israeli law banning too skinny models went into effect with the start of 2013. The law, approved last March in Israel, requires models to prove they have maintained a Body Mass Index (BMI) of at least 18.5 for three months before a fashion show. That means a woman who is 5'8'' tall can weigh no less than 119 pounds.
"This law is another step in the war against eating disorders," said physician Adatto. "Underweight models," he explained, "can no longer serve as role models for innocent young people who copy their false image of being skinny."
But some critics in this country say it is misguided, focusing on weight instead of health. They also say the Israeli ban is bound to fail because of the strong power of the fashion industry. "I think it's an approach that isn't going to work." Said eating disorder expert Susan Ice, who worked with an organization which creates a healthy working environment for models.
But Adatto told the reporter that he began to concern the issue after meeting an ambitious model who looked like she needed to be hospitalized. He said. "I realized that only legislation can change the situation. There was no time to waste, so many girls were dieting to death."
However, the efforts to regulate models' weight in Spain and Italy have not resulted in significant changes in part because of difficulties in determining reliable methods of measuring weight and health.
Still, folks including Ice say there's no denying that images from Hollywood and the fashion industry can be difficult for young women to deal with. "Certainly I don't believe the modeling industry has caused the rise in eating disorders, but it makes it harder," she says. "It's a difficult recovery environment, worshiping thinness as the beauty ideal." | high5230.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "it was possible for people to experience computing at home"
},
"options": [
"companies' operations were reliable on computer systems",
"computing had awareness of people's needs in the context",
"people could have access to c... | We have entered a new age of embedded , intuitive computing in which our homes, cars, stores, farms, and factories have the ability to think, sense, understand, and respond to our needs. It's not science fiction, but the dawn of a new age.
Most people might not realize it yet, but we are already feeling the impact of what's known as the third wave of computing. In small but significant ways it is helping us live healthier and more secure lives. If you drive a 2014 Mercedes Benz, for example, an "intelligent" system tries to keep you from hitting a pedestrian. A farmer in Nigeria relies on weather sensors that communicate with his mobile device. Forgot your medicine? A new pill bottle from AdhereTech reminds you through text or automatic phone messages that it's time to take a pill.
Technology is being integrated into our natural behaviors, with real-time data connecting our physical and digital worlds. With this dramatic shift in our relationship to technology, companies can adapt their products and services.
To understand how revolutionary the third wave is, we ought to consider how far we have come. The first wave began when companies started to manage their operations through mainframe computer systems over 50 years ago. Then computing got "personal" in the 1980s and the 1990s with the introduction of the PC (personal computer). For the most part, computing remained immobile and lacked contextual awareness.
In computing's second wave, mobile computing and the smartphone took center stage. Billions of people, some of whom might not have had access to clean water, electricity, or even housing, were connected. Developers created applications and provided consumers with access to just about everything through their phone at the cost of a monthly data plan.
As the third wave keeps developing, designers must meet the demands of consumers who want to experiment with new technology.
Historically, designers have focused their attention on a product's form and function. While that still matters, of course, the definition of a meaningful user experience has expanded significantly and will continue to do so. Instead of creating a single product, designers will need to imagine a series of connected products and services that have awareness of each other and their surroundings. | high17777.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "People could afford to read books."
},
"options": [
"People could afford to read books.",
"People became interested in inventing.",
"It was still difficult to print all kinds of books.",
"Punctuation mark began to be us... | Johann Gutenberg, who worked as a goldsmith , took what had already been discovered, and created a small invention that changed history. He created a machine that allowed him to move small blocks of letters in such a way that written material could be printed and mass-produced. Few people could read before Guttenberg made the invention, but once books became less expensive, more Europeans could read and write.
Block printing existed long before Gutenberg. The Chinese had been using wood blocks to print books as early as 868, but a new set of woodcuts had to be made for each book. Producing one book was not easy; producing all kinds of books was more difficult.
Writing ink dates from about 2500 BC in Egypt and China. Gutenberg used an oil-based printing ink that would last longer than other inks used in his time. We don't know much about Gutenberg because he was not famous during his lifetime. He was born in Germany about 1400. In 1448, Gutenberg developed signatures for each number, letter, and punctuation mark . He then built the molds to hold the signatures in place. Gutenberg published the first mass-produced book: a 1,282 page Bible. To this day, more copies of the Bible have been printed than any other book.
Copies of Gutenberg's invention spread throughout Europe, but the German goldsmith did not get rich from his invention. Some officials _ the invention of printing because they feared that it would spread bad ideas. By 1500 there were 1,700 printing presses in Europe. The presses had already produced about 20 million volumes of 40,000 different books. | high3899.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "she sang so well that everyone was amazed"
},
"options": [
"her hair was untidy and her clothes seemed\njust one step up from rags",
"she looks very funny",
"she sang so well that everyone was amazed",
"she made a fooli... | Susan Boyle was just an ordinary middle-aged British woman before she appeared on the reality show .
She lives in a house with her cat Pebbles in a tiny Scottish town. Because of learning difficulties, she doesn't have much education. But what she does have is a very good voice. As a kid, she sang in church and school plays. For a living, she sang at local pubs.
When she took the stage on April 10th, her hair was untidy and her clothes seemed _ rags .The audience laughed at her.
But then she opened her mouth. A few bars into the song and the laughing audience went silent. A beautiful voice was singing I Dreamed a Dream from the musical Les Miserables. Everyone was amazed. At the end of the song, the audience jumped to their feet and applauded wildly.
Almost overnight, Susan became a household name. She won fans and millions of admirers. Her online videos have drawn over 85.2 million hits.
Susan's story proved the truth of an old saying: "Never judge a book by its cover." | high10018.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "predictions that haven't come true"
},
"options": [
"predictions that have come true",
"predictions that haven't come true",
"why predictions don't come true easily",
"what will technology bring about"
],
"quest... | In the future your automobile will run on water instead of gas! You will be able to buy a supercomputer that fits in your pocket! You might even drive a flying car!
For each prediction that has come true today, several others have missed by a mile. Many of these predictions didn't consider how people would want to use the technology. Or if people really needed it in their lives or not. Let's look at some predictions from the not - too - distant past.
Robot Helpers
Where's the robot in my kitchen? Nowhere, of course. And he's probably not coming anytime soon. Robots do exist today, but mostly in factories and other Manufacturing environments.
Back in the 1950s, however, people said that by now personal robots would be in most people's home.
So why hasn't happened? Probably because robots are still too expensive and Clumsy. And maybe the idea of robots cooking our dinners and washing our clothes is just too _ . At home we seem to be doing fine without them.
Telephones of tomorrow?
In 1964 an American company introduced the video telephone. They said by the year 2000 most people would have a video phone in their homes. But of course the idea hasn't caught on yet.
Why? The technology worked fine, but it overlooked something obvious: peoples desire for privacy. Would you want to have a video phone conversation with someone after you just stepped out of the shower?
Probably not - it could be embarrassing! Just because a technology is available doesn't always mean people will want to use it.
And finally, how about that crazy prediction of the flying car? It's not so crazy anymore! But a flying car remains one of the most fascinating technology ideas to capture our imagination. Keep watching the news - or perhaps the sky outside your window - to see what the future will bring. | high22914.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "they're cheap"
},
"options": [
"they're popular",
"they're convenient",
"they're useful",
"they're cheap"
],
"question": "People buy cell phones for the following reasons except that _ .",
"question_type":... | Millions of people are using cell phones today.In many places it is actually considered unusual not to use one.In many countries,cell phones are very popular with young people.They find that the phones are more than a means of communication--having a mobile phone shows that they are cool and connected.
The explosions around the world in mobile phone use make some health professional worried.Some doctors are concerned that in the future many people may suffer health problems from the use of mobile phones.In England,there has been a serious debate about this issue.Mobile phone companies are worried about the negative publicity of such ideas.They say that there is no proof that mobile phones are bad for your health.
On the other hand,why do some medical studies show changes in the brain cells of some people who use mobile phones?Signs of change in the issues of the brain and head can be _ with modern scanning equipment.In one case,a traveling salesman had to retire at a young age because of serious memory loss.He couldn't remember even simple tasks.He would often forget the name of his own son.This man used to talk on his mobile phone for about six hours a day,every day of his working week,for a couple of years.His family doctor blamed his mobile phone use,but his employer's doctor didn't agree.
What is it that makes mobile phones potentially harmful?The answer is radiation.Hightech machines can detect very small amounts of radiation from mobile phones.Mobile phone companies agree that there is some radiation.But they say the amount is too small to worry about.
As the discussion about their safety continues,it appears that it's best to use mobile phones less often.Use your regular phone if you want to talk for a long time.Use your mobile phone only when you really need it.Mobile phones can be very useful and convenient,especially in emergencies.In the future,mobile phones may have a warning label that says they are bad for your health.So for now,it's wise not to use your mobile phone too often. | high6739.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "They are not very skillful."
},
"options": [
"They look like children.",
"They are from Joao Pessoa.",
"They are not very skillful.",
"They are against human beings."
],
"question": "What can we learn about the ... | The end of the 2014 World Cup does not mean the end of the international competition in Brazil. A major football event which is known as RoboCup will be held in the coastal city Joao Pessoa. Teams of robots from around the world will take part in _ and play the game known as soccer in the United States. The robot teams are guided by teams of human beings.
Watching robots play football is similar to watching children play the game. The kicks are not good, there are a lot of falls , and people are there to guide and support the robot players. Students of the University of Pennsylvania are trying for their fourth victory at the competition. The students have won the last three RoboCup competition in the Netherlands, Mexico and Turkey.
Jian Qiaoli is one of the leaders of the University of Pennsylvania team. He says one goal he has set for his team is to make sure the robots can find the ball and know where they are on the playing field. And he wants the team to be able to better control the walking ability of the robots. They should pay more attention to the kicking ability, which is the key to winning the game.
Qin He is another leader of the robot team. She says the abilities of the robots improve every year. The robots know the difference between the colors green and red, and they can decide where to go and where the ball is on the playing field. She says the robots are self-learning and don't need to be told what to do. If there are three robot players on the playing field at the same time, they will communicate with each other to decide different responsibility for each of them. They have very good team play right now.
As long as the radar detection works well, the robots will be very competitive. So RoboCup will be an exciting technology competition. Each team develops their own software. Actually, it's a competition of who has the best software. Some RoboCup participants hope to develop a team of robots that can play against human beings. | high8714.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Some interesting places for kids in Brisbane."
},
"options": [
"Brisbane--a beautiful city in Australia.",
"How to travel in Brisbane.",
"Famous parks and activities in Brisbane.",
"Some interesting places for kids in B... | Among the many things that Brisbane , Australia, does really well, the care for kids is the best one. Here is a list of places that will be suitable for your kids.
Swimming pools
Simple way for happiness: mix kids with water. Of course, this is a choice for the hot summer months.
Parks
Free outdoor fun: it's suitable for kids of all ages. It's a place for parents to let kids run wild.
The Children's Art Centre
The Children's Art Centre has been very popular. Kids' favorite here is some exhibitions specially designed for children. But we must pay some money.
South Bank Parklands
South Bank Parklands has everything you need to keep kids amused. Take them for a swim at the man-made beach. On weekends, go through the arts market or go to a cheap movie. South Bank Parklands often gives free performances too.
Roma Street Parkland
Close to bus transport, this parkland is easily accessible . It's ideal for kids of all ages. Younger kids can take a trip on the Jelly Bean Express, a 1.3 km trackless train ride around the parkland. Free entry and open every day. | high15160.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "CAT Scan"
},
"options": [
"Modern X-ray",
"Three-dimensional View",
"Fast - moving Camera",
"CAT Scan"
],
"question": "The best title of this passage might be _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
}
... | How can you find out what is going on inside a person' s body without opening the patient up? Regular X-rays can show a lot. CAT scans can show even more. They can give three-dimensional view of body organs .
What is a CAT scan? CAT stands for Computerized Axial Tomography(X). It is a special X-ray machine that gets a 360 - degree picture of a small area of a patient's body.
Doctors use X-rays to study and examine diseases and injuries within the body. X-rays can find foreign objects inside the body or to take pictures of some organs inside if special things as dyes or special liquids are added to the organs to be X-rayed.
A CAT scanner, however, uses a beam of X-rays to give a cross-sectional view of a particular part of the body. A fine beam of X-rays is scanned across the body and circled around the patient from many different angles . A computer analyzes the information from each angle and produces a clear cross-sectional picture on the screen. This picture is then photographed for later use. Several cross-sections, taken one after another, can give a clear "photo" of the entire body or of any body organs. The newest CAT scanners can even give a clear picture of active, moving organs just as a fast-action camera can "stop the action" giving clear pictures of what appear only mistily to the eye. And because of the 360 - degree pictures, CAT scans show 3-dimensional views of organs in a manner that was once only seen during surgery or autopsy (examining a dead body). | high7427.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "the traffic problems are terrible"
},
"options": [
"there are many bikes available",
"many people get tired of driving cars",
"many other cities have already done so",
"the traffic problems are terrible"
],
"que... | prefix = st1 /San Francisco is going to do what many other cities have already done --- provide free bicycles to the public. The mayor of San Franciscosupports the bicycle program. He wants to improve the terrible traffic problems in the city.
At first, 40 to 60 bikes will be available only to city workers. People will give their old bikes to the city to use in the program. If this program is successful, one day more than 1000 bicycles will be available. Everyone, not just city workers, will be able to use these bicycles.
People in Fresno,Californiaalready have a free bicycle program. In fact, this idea began inAmsterdamover 40 years ago. These programs encourage citizens to get out of their cars and onto pollution-free bikes.
Fresno's Yellow Bike Program puts about fast bicycles around the city. The bikes are painted bright yellow so people know they can take them. When people take a yellow bike, they can ride to work or to shopping areas, and then leave the bike for the next rider.
Some people worry that the free bikes will be stolen. However, theft hasn't been a problem in other free-bike cities.
While most people think the bike program is a good idea, only a few say they will use it. "I will still drive my car," says Joanna Greene. "San Franciscohas a lot of hills. My office is at the top of Potrero Hill. I don't think _ . And, wouldn't I have to carry a helmet with me all the time?"
Phil Chung agrees, "There is too much traffic. Riding a bicycle can be dangerous. There are not very many bike lanes ." He continues, "Plus, it's too cold in the winter. And what if you ride a bike to work, and then there isn't one to ride home?"
Program leaders know there will be problems. But they think it's worth trying. "It's not the solution for everyone," states Sylvia Pass. "But if just one hundred people use it every day, that's one hundred cars that aren't on the streets, one hundred parking spaces that aren't used. I think it's a great beginning." | high22900.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "bilingual education is not always good to children"
},
"options": [
"knowing two or more languages can improve children's skills",
"the more languages children know, the better they will be",
"children had better not take voc... | On a hot August morning, in a classroom overlooking New York's Hudson River, a teacher guides a group of 3-year-olds completely in Chinese. This is just a language summer camp run by the primary school Bilingual Buds, which offers a year-round course in Chinese as well as Spanish for kids as young as 2.
A lot of research now shows the regular, high-level use of more than one language may actually improve early brain development. Knowing two or more languages can improve the ability to focus, decide and deal with information better. These important skills are grouped together, known in brain terms as "executive function". The research suggests _ develop ahead of time in bilingual children, and are already evident in kids as young as 3 or 4. Bilingual education, common in many countries, is a growing trend across the United States, with 440 elementary schools offering the study in Spanish, Chinese and French.
But Tamar Gollan, a professor at the University of California, has found a vocabulary gap between children who speak only one language and those who grow up with more. On average, the more language spoken, the smaller the vocabulary in each one. Gollan's research suggests that while that gap narrows as children grow, it does not disappear completely. Gollan says, "Vocabulary tests help us find that bilinguals have the disadvantage, where you know the word but you just can't get it out."
In fact some of the values of bilingualism can't be measured at all, of course. To speak more than one language is to open the mind to more than one culture or way of life.
Bilinguals also appear to be better at learning other new languages. Clarisse spent her early childhood in Switzerland speaking French. At 6, she learned English. Later she learned Spanish, German, and, during three years living in Tokyo, Japanese. Now she has easily mastered several languages. | high13505.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Providing them with mini carrots or blueberries."
},
"options": [
"Providing them with mini carrots or blueberries.",
"Keeping them with you when you're dining.",
"Supplying them with larger meals or drinks.",
"Leaving ... | Does your pet have a slim figure? According to the Association of Pet Obesity Prevention (APOP), about half of all dogs and nearly 60% of all indoor cats are overweight. Larry Kornegay, president of the American Veterinary Medical Association, says he sees an overweight pet nearly every day, and unusually the owner is overweight. So talking about the topic can be _ . "I talk about their pet's health. Still, some clients take it personally."
Here are some tips for pet weight loss:
See the vet . Have your vet put together a plan and treat any existing medical problems. Pain relief and diet changes may be required for arthritic pets, which will allow for exercise to at least begin.
Skip the crash diet (an attempt to lose weight quickly by strictly limiting the diet). A special weight-loss diet may be suggested. For example, look for the supplement which burns fat and builds muscle mass in foods. Never place any pet on a crash diet, especially cats, which can suffer a potentially fatal liver disease as a result. There's a safe weight-loss drug for dogs you can ask your vet about.
Dine alone. "Cut out treats and resist temptation by keeping pets out of the room you're dining in," says Chicago vet Sheldon Rubin. You can buy low-calorie treats for dogs and cats. Rubin also recommends mini carrots, small apple slices or blueberries for dogs. What's important is finding other ways, aside from food, to show your love. Play with your cat using an interactive toy, and take your dog for walks. Walks are great for bonding, and good for you. Studies show people are actually more willing to lose weight themselves if it also will help their pet.
Feed pets at special times. Pre-measure food carefully--don't give them a larger meal than ever--and leave it in various places, so pets sniff it out and use the stairs. It's fun, and it's good exercise. | high15174.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Because they prevent teenagers from getting taller and taller."
},
"options": [
"Because they make teenagers grow too tall.",
"Because they make teenagers get too big.",
"Because they prevent teenagers from getting taller and... | The public commonly associates steroid use with big-time athletics. But the drugs may be even more of a menace to teenagers. The synthetic hormones can stunt a young person's growth by prematurely closing the ends of the long bones in the skeleton. That means a 1.7 metre, 15-year-old high school student who uses steroids "might get bigger but won't get any taller", according to a US doctor.
Nearly seven percent of boys in the US try steroids before the end of high school, according to a 1988 study by professors Charles Yesalis and William Buckley, of Penn State University. The estimate comes from a poll of 3,400 seniors in 46 public and private schools across the US.
"Abusers of Steroids did it to improve their appearance and to excel at sports," Professor Yesalis said. "Parents, teachers and coaches make boys believe that to be an ideal male you need to have these. Then they say: 'you can't play games to have fun; you play games to win.'"
"Such attitudes put many high school athletes at high risk of becoming abusers of steroids," said Mike Gimbel, director of Baltimore County Office of substance Abuse. "For these athletes, the pressure to perform is incredible," he said. "It was inevitable that it would seep down to high school level." | high7433.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "33"
},
"options": [
"16",
"33",
"40",
"53"
],
"question": "Mrs Young's car was _ years old.",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Mrs ... | Mrs Young was eighty. Her husband died when she was fifty - three and he left her an old car he had had for six years. She learned to drive and loved very much. She liked driving very fast, and was proud of the fact that she had never been caught for a driving offence .
Then one day she nearly lost her record . A police car followed her, and the policeman in it saw her pass a red light without stopping and she was taken before a judge. The man looked at her and said that she was too old to drive a car, and the reason why she had not stopped at the red light was most probably that her eyes had become weak with old age, so that she had simply not seen it.
When the judge had finished what he was saying, Mrs Young opened her handbag she was carrying and took out her sewing. Without saying a word, she chose a needle with a very small eye , and threaded it at her first try.
When she had finished it, she took the thread out of the needle again and handed both the needle and the thread to the judge, saying, "Now it's your turn. I suppose you drive a car, and that your eyesight is good."
The judge took the needle and tried to thread it. After trying six times, he had still not done it. At last he had to set the old woman free and her record remained unbroken. | high11312.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "To memorize President Theodore Roosevelt"
},
"options": [
"To be suitable for mass production",
"To be easily pronounced by children.",
"To meet the advertisers' needs.",
"To memorize President Theodore Roosevelt"
]... | The early 1900s were very different from today, when toys were still the delight of children everywhere.
Theodore Roosevelt's Presidency marks the beginning of the "Teddy Bear". In the year 1902,toy bears were named "Teddy" after the president's nickname. The Teddy Bear became known worldwide and it was only a few years later that the Teddy Bears were mass produced.
In 1913,an item called the Erector Set was invented. It was a steel,motorized toy that children could use to build models of anything. Its creator was A.C.Gilbert,a medical doctor.
Charles Pajeau created a similar wooden set called Tinker Toys in the year 1914.Tinker Toys were made for younger children.
Raggedy Ann dolls first came on the scene after newspaper cartoonist Johnny Gruelle reproduced the doll he made for his daughter. That was in 1915.
The following year,an architect's son named John Lloyd Wright,invented Lincoln Logs,which were interlocked to make structures.
Two years after Mickey Mouse was created,stuffed Mickey Mouse dolls were made by Charlotte Clark. This was the start of Disney merchandise.
The yoyo became popular in the United States after Donald Duncan bought a yoyo company in 1929.
The ViewMaster,a three dimensional viewer,was developed by a camera enthusiast named William Gruber. The toy became popular when Gruber licensed Disney characters to make still, 3D images from Disney movies and television programs.
Finally,in 1940,model airplanes were mass produced. They started out as a way for manufacturers to sell planes to the military,but later caught on as a toy.
The toys that we know and love today have had their roots from these ancient times. Thanks to all these creative man's efforts, we know otherwise what we may never know. | high3655.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "it was a very attractive jacket"
},
"options": [
"it was charged at a reasonable price",
"it was a very attractive jacket",
"he was in great need of clothing",
"he was happy to find such a bargain"
],
"question"... | One day, when I was in college, a dishonest-looking character approached me in the student union with a leather jacket he wanted to sell. It was a beauty: buttery smooth cowskin, with artfully sewed lines and long leather fringes .
I can't remember what the price was, but it was apparently too little for such a jacket. Even as I paid the money that day, I knew something wasn't right. Surely, a couple of days later, the jacket's real owner, a student about my age came to me as I was on my way to class.
"That's my jacket," he said, "and I want it back."
"No way," I answered. "I paid for it, and I have no idea if it's yours. It's mine."
He didn't challenge me, and I left, but the uneasiness I had about my new possession now _ A few days later, riding my bike across campus, I saw the real owner standing on the sidewalk. I rode over, took the jacket off, handed it to him said I was sorry, and rode off without another word. More than the weight of the jacket had been lifted from my shoulders.
We're all human, which means that sometimes we do things we shouldn't do or say things we shouldn't say. Sometimes we realize too late that our actions have been hurtful to somebody else. When these hard times occur, the best response --- the only response, really --- is, "I'm sorry."
Admitting a wrongdoing, as soon as possible and frankly, helps the other person begin to heal. But just as important, it cleans up our own soul and sets us free.
That is a small price to pay for a clear conscience. | high5224.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Their families or the government."
},
"options": [
"Old people themselves.",
"Some kind-hearted people.",
"Their families or the government.",
"Some non-governmental organizations."
],
"question": "In the author... | It was another rainy day, it had stopped raining but the ground was still wet, with this remarkable smell of freshness, I was in the car with my friend, and ahead of us was a pitiful-looking old man, with a walking stick in his hand as it seemed he was having a hard time standing up or barely doing any effort. I have always had a weakness for old people; they break my heart, especially the ones begging on the streets, or selling flowers, I feel sad for them, having to be on the streets instead of being taken care of by their families or the government.
There was a car in front of us before we reach next to him. I had prepared money in my hand to give it to him, and I was looking at the car in front of us when the driver took a bill of money and threw it off the window--he threw it in the face of the old man and it fell on the ground, in a wet spot. The old man looked at the bill with a sad look, knowing it would take him an enormous effort to pick it up and he was hardly standing up, so I opened the car door, ran to him as he was bending to pick it up, took it, wiped it with my jeans since it was almost wet, gave it to him and gave him the money I had prepared for him.
The look on his face when he saw me doing that was the most rewarding look anyone has ever given me. He was shocked, and started thanking me for what I did and asking God to bless me, but I couldn't hear a word of what he was saying, I couldn't look him in the eye, how can someone so sweet like him with a kind and gentle look be left on the streets?
Helping him out surely made his day, but what he didn't know is that he affected me in a way he could never imagine--I still think about him very often, and I just hope everyone will look at old people the way I do. | high18450.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Fewer tourists were visiting Hong Kong than before."
},
"options": [
"The tourism business was developing quickly",
"Fewer tourists were visiting Hong Kong than before.",
"It was no longer a popular destination in Asia.",
... | The tourism business in Hong Kong has been through some very hard times. Ten years ago, with all the economic problems in Asia, far fewer tourists were visiting Hong Kong. However, the SAR was still one of the most popular destinations in Asia, and a favored location for international meetings and exhibitions.
The year 1997 was the best year for tourism in the 1990s. However in 1998, the figure was down by 8% from 10.4 million tourist arrivals recorded in the previous year.
Tourism was still big business, though. The mainland was Hong Kong's largest source of visitors, making up over a quarter of all arrivals. Travelers from Taiwan Province, South and Southeast Asia and Japan made up the most of other visitors. Tourism remained a major source of foreign exchange, although tourists spending dropped.
Tourists often made short visits, staying an average of three to four days. Most tourists came to Hong Kong for business or leisure , or a mixture of both. Shopping was still the favorite thing of tourist activity and spending. The average visitor spent about HK$ 3,000 - not including accommodation and food.
Hong Kong Tourist Association officials developed various plans to develop interest in Hong Kong as a tourist destination, and they hoped these policies would work. | high17763.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Computers have made the job easier."
},
"options": [
"More people like animated movies.",
"Fewer people like animated movies.",
"Computers have made the job easier.",
"Computers have made the job harder."
],
"qu... | Almost no young people today know who the cartoon character Oswald the Rabbit is, but they certainly recognize his successor, Bugs Bunny. Oswald, Bugs, and hundreds of other characters were created by Walt Disney, perhaps the most famous cartoonist in history.
Born in prefix = st1 /Chicagoin 1901, Walt Disney always wanted to be an artist. After returning from World War I, in which he drove an ambulance, Disney worked as a commercial artist. He enjoyed drawing cartoons more than anything else, and decided to try his hand at a technology that was new at the time, moving pictures.
In the 1920's, he produced several films where he made cartoon characters move as if by magic. The technique Disney used was painstaking. He made hundreds or even thousands of repeated drawings of the same character. In each drawing, the character was changed just a bit. A film was taken of the series of drawings, and when it was shown, the characters appeared to move. The process, called animation, is still used today, although computers have made the process much easier.
In 1928, Disney created his most famous character, Mortimer Mouse, who we know today as Mickey. The mouse starred in a cartoon called Steamboat Willie, which was unusual because it involved the use of a sound track. Within the next few years, Disney invented many of his other characters.
The list of Disney's animation successes is long and memorable. It includes Pinocchio, Dumbo, Bambi, Cinderella, and Peter Pan. Perhaps his most remarkable animated film is Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Created in 1937, it was an immediate success. Today, more than fifty years later, it is still one of the most popular films for children. | high19996.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "The mother didn't need to work."
},
"options": [
"Both the mother and the father had to work to support the family.",
"The father stayed at home taking care of the children.",
"The mother didn't need to work.",
"A famil... | Mother stayed at home cooking and cleaning while Father left for work. Two or more children took the bus to school. In the evening, all the family members got together at home again. This is what a traditional family was like twenty years ago. But now great changes have happened in British families.
As many as 2 out of 3 marriages now end in divorce , and many children have to live with one parent and only see the other at weekends or during holidays.
There has been a great increase in the number of working women with children. Many women have to work to support themselves and their children. Even in the family where there is no divorce, both parents have to work in order to survive.
Also women are no longer happy to stay at home taking care of children. Many of them have jobs and some of them can even make more money than men, the traditional _ .
What's more, the increasing number of single-parent families have caused an increase in the crime rate among children in a way. It is thought that if a child doesn't have a father, he or she will be harmed.
However the changes may be good for some people. For women it's now much easier to have well-paid jobs. Although it is difficult to be a working mother, it is no longer seen as a bad thing for children.
As for some children, they learn how to solve problems by themselves at an early age. | high4884.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "were happy to pass the love they got"
},
"options": [
"knew the two young couples",
"were happy to pass the love they got",
"were always ready to help poor people",
"wanted to invite the young people to the meal"
],... | I arrived late one night on a business trip, so I decided to have dinner in the hotel I stayed in. As I was finishing my meal, an elderly couple came in. They were holding hands and had lovely smiles on their faces. They sat three tables from me. I was amazed at the love they showed for each other. It stuck me because it was shortly after ending a 20-year marriage and I still had pain in my heart.
My waiter was also their waiter. As I paid my bill, I asked what their bill was. He told me, and I gave him $40 to pay their bill. He asked if I knew them and I told him "No, I just wanted to repay them for the love that they were showing to each other," and then I left.
The next day I entered the restaurant again. After I had been seated, the waiter who served me the night before told me that the strangest thing happened after I left the restaurant. When the elderly couple went to pay for their meal, they were told that it had been paid. The waiter just told them what I said. They were amazed. They looked around, asked for the bill of two young couples who were seated together, paid their bill and left.
I smiled and ordered my meal. About 45 minutes later, I finished my meal and was about to head out, but my waiter was nowhere to be found. I explained to the hostess that I needed to pay for my meal and hurry to the airport. She smiled and explained that I would not have to pay, because she felt she should pay for my bill because of the joy brought to the faces of the elderly couple and the amazement of the young couples.
When I told her that they didn't have to do that, she said with a smile "Love creates Love." | high5542.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "we'll be happier if we quit complaining"
},
"options": [
"our habits can't be broken",
"we'll be happier if we quit complaining",
"we can't live without complaining",
"we needn't deal with complaining"
],
"quest... | Will Bowen is the author of the famous book-A Complaint Free World, and he is a minister With a very simple message: quit complaining. If you do ,you'll be happier and healthier. The goal is to live for 21 continuous days without complaint That's how long it takes to break a habit according to Bowen.
In your hands, you hold the secret to change your life. Will Bowen developed the life-changing plan based on the simple idea that good thing will happen to you if you can just leave your complaint behind
Less than a year later, more than six million people took up the challenge, trying to go 21 continuous days without complaining. By changing your words, you can change your thoughts and then begin to create your new life. People have shared stories with Will Bowen on relationships cured, careers improved, and becoming all overall happier person. | high18336.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "the problem with 17-year-olds dropping out of school in England"
},
"options": [
"why so many 17-year-olds have dropped out of education",
"the troubles facing 17-year--olds across whole England",
"how the government helps 17... | England has a longstanding problem with youngsters dropping out of training.
Almost half of 17-year-olds in some parts of England have dropped out of fulltime education or training.
The statistics show 49% in Thurrock and 44% in Salford have dropped out of school or job training.
Across England,31%of 17-year-olds are not in education or training.
The figures also reveal deep regional divides,with wealthier areas such as Richmon and Harrow recording18% of 17-year-olds out of official education.
The statistics confirm England's poor international standing for staying-on rates in education.
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development considers England's drop-out rates as among the worst among the industrialised countries.
Regionally,the statistics show Yorkshire and the Humber have the highest rate of 17-year-olds not in full-time education or work-based training at 35%.
Outer London has the highest staying-on rate,with l3%of 17-year-olds having dropped out of official learning.
In the east of England this figure stands at 31%and at 29%in the South West.
Edward Davey,Liberal Democrat Shadow Education Secretary,said the government "should be ashamed"that so many youngsters were dropping out of school.
A spokesman for the Department for Education and Skills said the government had carried out a series of reforms,with aPS2.5 billion rise in funding for further education. | high17005.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "had a cheerful spirit"
},
"options": [
"had no influence on his life",
"sponsored him to do his business",
"had a cheerful spirit",
"told everyone how to live a good life"
],
"question": "In the writer's opinion... | I was working as an intern at my University's Museum of Natural history when I was an undergraduate in college. One day while working at the cash register in the gift shop, I saw an elderly couple come in with a little girl in a wheelchair.
As I looked closer at this girl, I saw that she was kind of perched on her chair. I then realized that she had no arms or legs, just a head, neck and upper body. She was wearing a little white dress with red dots.
As the couple wheeled her up to me I was looking down at the register. I turned my head toward the girl and gave her a wink , As I took the money from her grandparents, I looked back at the girl, who was giving me a nicest, largest smile I had ever seen. All of a sudden her handicap was gone and all I saw was this beautiful girl, whose smile just melted me and almost instantly gave me a completely new sense of what life is all about. She took me away from a poor, unhappy college student and brought me into her world; a world of smiles, love and warmth.
That was 10 years ago. I'm a successful business person now and whenever I get down and think about the troubles of the world, I think about that little girl and the unforgettable lesson about life that she taught me. | high19028.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "life in the city is different from life in the countryside"
},
"options": [
"life in the city is different from life in the countryside",
"people prefer living in the city to living in the countryside",
"cities have more disa... | Can you imagine exchanging the pleasure of city life for a quiet life in the countryside?
Many people want to move from the country to the city because they think that life in the city is more exciting and better than that in countryside, especially young people who like new, modern things. People like popular things and feel that they can only find the latest styles in the city.
However, it is possible to enjoy the higher quality of country life and still enjoy some of the advantages of living in the city.
Nowadays, traveling is fast and easy, and information can be found on the Internet, so many people are able to do their work in home offices. Because they have e-mail and personal computers, they don't have to be in big cities to manage their businesses. It is not important where they actually work because the results of their work can be sent everywhere with e-mails. Therefore, there is no need to put up with all of the disadvantages of the city. Now they can escape busy city life to enjoy the quiet country life and still be able to have successful jobs.
Other people are interested in technological things and high-tech jobs and think they can only find them in big cities. If they want to find a job, especially a good position in a company, they think that they have to live in a city. For these jobs, they are willing to put up with many of the disadvantages of city life, such as crime, heavy traffic, and pollution. | high11474.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "he failed to arrange time for a course"
},
"options": [
"he failed to arrange time for a course",
"he missed a course for lack of money",
"he was upset by the bad weather",
"he was not satisfied with his resume"
],
... | IF and WHEN were friends. Every week they met and their conversation usually centered on all the things they were going to achieve. This particular Saturday when they met, WHEN sensed that IF was not in a great mood. WHEN questioned IF, "What's wrong with you? You don't seem your usual cheery self?" IF looked at WHEN and replied, "I just don't feel I am making any progress. Last week I saw a course and wanted to take if only I had the time to take it." WHEN knew exactly how IF felt. "I too saw a course and I am going to register when I get enough money." said WHEN, "What about that new job you were going to apply for? You were so excited about it last week." IF responded, "If my computer didn't break down last week, I would have applied. So I could not type my resume."
"Don't worry about it.When you are ready another job will come through. I have been thinking about looking for another job too, but I will wait and when the weather gets nicer I will look then." WHEN then went on to tell IF about his week, hoping that it would cheer him up a bit.
The man at the next table couldn't help overhearing WHEN and IF. "Excuse me gentlemen," the man said. Surprised, IF and WHEN both looked at the man. The man continued, "I'm sorry, but I couldn't help hearing your conversation. I think I know how you could solve your problems." Curious, IF asked the gentleman, "How do you think you can solve our problems?" The gentleman smiled and said, "You only need to listen to yourselves. It reminds me of an old proverb: ' _ '." The gentleman went on, "Just start doing, take action, and stop talking about 'if and when'." IF and WHEN suddenly realized that what the gentleman had said was so true. Both of them were guilty of thinking and living their life for the "ifs and whens". The gentleman left and their conversation changed. They made up their mind that when they met for lunch next week, there would be no "ifs and whens"; they would only talk about what they accomplished! Soon another week came. | high20871.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "If a person has a high level of EQ, he will surely succeed in everything."
},
"options": [
"Many westerners have a good knowledge of EQ.",
"EQ plays an important role in solving social problems.",
"EQ can help you read and un... | Emotional intelligence, or EQ, is the ability to read and understand emotions in ourselves and others. It is said that emotional intelligence makes up 80 percent of one's success.
Ever since the 1995 publication of US writer Daniel Goleman's best-seller, Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ, EQ has been seen by leaders and educators as the solution to many social problems. In some Western countries such as the US, emotional intelligence is now taught widely in secondary, business and medical schools.
EQ is important. But our enthusiasm for it has hidden a dark side, says a recent article in The Atlantic.
Recent research and studies show that as people improve their emotional skills, they become better at manipulating others. When someone knows what others are feeling, they can motivate them to act against their own best interests.
Does this remind you of those "managers" at pyramid scheme companies? Hundreds of thousands of otherwise cautious and rational people have been brainwashed by their impassioned speeches and become bankrupt as a result.
Social scientists have begun to document this dark side of emotional intelligence. A study by the University of Cambridge found that when a leader gave an inspiring speech filled with emotion, the audience was less likely to look over the message and remembered less of the content.
Researchers call this the "awestruck effect" , but it may just as easily be described as the dumbstruck effect, says The Atlantic article. Leaders who master emotions can rob us of our ability to reason. If they have self-serving motives, or their values are out of step with our own, emotional intelligence becomes a weapon of manipulation and the results can be destroyed.
Another recent study from Kyoto University shows that people with high interpersonal EQ influence others' emotions based on their own goals.
_ According to them, emotional intelligence helps people disguise one set of emotions while expressing another for personal gain. Emotionally intelligent people "intentionally shape their emotions to leave favorable impressions of themselves", Kilduff's team writes in the journal Research in Organizational Behavior.
It seems that to better understand the dark side of EQ, we need to look no further than Shakespeare's Macbeth or its modern adaption on TV: House of Cards. | high8066.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "They will put their cell phone outside before entering the room."
},
"options": [
"The way they dress and style their hair must be from the 80s.",
"They must leave their cell phone at home.",
"They will put their cell phone o... | A family in Guelph, Ontario is spending a year living "in 1982". They're doing it so their kids can see what life was like before technology like iPads, computers and even coffee machines was part of everyday life.
They have stopped using all technology from their home and are relying on the things people would have used back in the 80s. There is a box at the front door where people can put their cell phones in, while they're visiting the family.
Blair McMillan and his wife Morgan want their kids--Trey, 5, and Denton, 2--to have a year without technology.
Instead of reading e-readers, they are reading books. Instead of using a GPS, they used paper maps. The home the family is living in was built in the 1980s. Even the way they dress and style their hair is from the 80s.
The whole idea started when young Trey was called to come outside. He didn't because he was busy playing on the ipad. That's why his dad thought of the idea of living "in 1982" for a year. The family plans to live like "it's 1982" until April next year. To them, one of the hardest things was giving up their cell phone. | high9378.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Blended learning is an effective learning approach."
},
"options": [
"Blended learning is an effective learning approach.",
"More and more people will use Internet-based learning materials,",
"There are so many different ways... | In an age dominated by new media and the Internet, there are so many alternative ways of learning.Gone are the days when, if we couldn't make it into a classroom, the only real option was to pick up a book, or when audio materials consisted of bad quality cassettes or sporadic radio and TV programmes.With the appearance of broadband access to the web, we have a whole new learning domain at our fingertips.Sophisticated learning materials in the form of text or high-quality audio are now available at the touch of a button, and tests and assignments can be submitted and marked online.Questions and learning, studying away from the classroom has never seemed easier.Yet many teachers would argue that face-to-face contact between teachers and students is an essential part of the language learning experience.Enter the concept of blended learning, an approach to education which seeks to combine the best of new technology and actual human contact.
Advocates of blended learning argue that an approach to study which combines the benefits of new technology with the best aspects of face-to-face (often abbreviated to F2F) teaching, will achieve better results.For example, there are some aspects of study, like practical sessions, dealing with more subjective questions, or meeting the needs of an individual student, which require face-to-face human interaction, whereas the more mechanical aspects of learning, such as answers to clear-cut questions, can be managed simply and effectively in a remote environment using new technology.
Blended learning approaches have proven especially appropriate in language learning.For example, in an ELT (English Language Teaching ) environment, a simple scenario might be a classroom session where a teacher asks a group of students to use a wiki to create a text. Students then go away and compose and edit the text remotely.During the next F2F session, the teacher express his opinion about their work. | high1724.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "a plan turning Mars into a little earth"
},
"options": [
"Mars supporting life",
"finding water in the Mars",
"a plan turning Mars into a little earth",
"the necessity of changing Mars"
],
"question": "The passa... | The plan: turn Mars into a blue world with streams and green fields, and then fill it with creatures from the earth.
This idea may sound like something from a science fiction , but it is actually being taken seriously by many researchers. This suggests the future for the "red planet" will be the main topic for discussion at an international conference hosted by NASA this week. Leading researchers as well as science fiction writers will attend the event.
Turning Mars into a little earth has long been a topic in science fiction," said Dr Michael Meyer, NASA's senior scientist for astrobiology ."Now, with scientists exploring the reality, we can ask what are the real possibilities of changing Mars."
Most scientists agree that Mars could be turned into a little earth, although much time and money would be needed to achieve this goal.
But many experts are shocked by the idea. "We are destroying our own world at an unbelievable speed and now we are talking about ruining another planet," said Paul Murdin from the Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge, UK.
Over the past months, scientists have become increasingly confident .They will find Martian life forms. Europe and America's robot explorers have found proof that water, mixed with soil, exists in large amounts on the planet. | high13263.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "They have their own complicated contents."
},
"options": [
"They have their own complicated contents.",
"They have similar story backgrounds.",
"They have specific themes for children.",
"They have the same characters... | Canadian short story writer Alice Munro won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Eighty-two-year-old Munro is only the 13th woman to win the 112-year-old prize.
Munro didn't publish her first collection of short stories until she was 37 years old, but her stories have always been well-received. Lots of her stories share similar themes and characters, but each story has its own twists and turns.
Even though she's won Canada's most famous literary award, the Giller Prize, twice, winning the Nobel Prize for Literature is the cherry on top of Munro's career. "It brings this incredible recognition, both of her and her career, and of the dedication to the short story," said one person.
Along with the well-respected title comes 1.3 million dollars.Munro said everything was "so surprising and wonderful" and that she was "dazed by all the attention and affection that has been coming my way."
Munro knew she was in the running-she was named the second-most likely person to win this year's prize, after Haruki Murakami of Japan-but she never thought that she would win.
Munro's win also represents the long way Canadian writers have come."When I began writing there was a very small community of Canadian writers and little attention was paid by the world.Now Canadian writers are read, admired and respected around the globe," Munro said on Thursday.
She is technically not the first Canadian to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, but many like to think that she is.In 1976 Saul Bellow, who was born in Quebec but moved to Chicago when he was still a child, won the prize.Even though he was born in Canada, he is mostly considered to be an American writer.
"This is a win for us all.Canadians, by our very nature, are not very nationalistic," said Geoffrey Taylor."But things like this suddenly make you want to find a flag."
She wasn't sure if she would keep writing if she won the prize, saying that it would be "nice to go out with a bang.But this may change my mind." | high9393.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "sends warning messages in advance"
},
"options": [
"refers to the sixth sense for danger",
"deals with obvious warning situations",
"connects the left and right hemispheres",
"sends warning messages in advance"
],
... | While some scientists overlook the existence of a sixth sense for danger, a new research from Washington University in St. Louis has discovered a brain area that clearly acts as an early warning system and helps us adjust our behavior to avoid dangerous situations.
"Our brains are better at picking up not obvious warning signs than we previously thought," said Joshua Brown, a PhD in psychology in the issue of the journal Science.
The findings offer exact scientific evidence for a new way to form a concept of the complex control processes taking place in and around the ACC, a brain area located near the top of the frontal lobes and along the walls that divide the left and right hemispheres .
"In the past, we found activity in the ACC when people had to make a difficult decision, or after they make a mistake," Brown said. "But now we find that this brain area can actually learn to recognize when you might make a mistake, even before a difficult decision has to be made. So the ACC appears to act as an early warning system---- it learns to warn us in advance when our behavior might lead to a negative outcome, so that we can be more careful and avoid making a mistake."
By providing a clearer picture by which we self monitor and control our behavior, the study is an important step in efforts to develop more effective treatments for mental illnesses. It also provides a new way of understanding inappropriate behaviors that often accompany mental illnesses.
"Our results suggest how injury of the ACC can lead to breakdowns in the early warning system, so that the brain fails to stop or control inappropriate behavior ahead of time," said Brown. "On the other hand, in those persons with mental disorder, the ACC might warn us of an upcoming problem even when no problem is in the existence."
Known to be an important part of the brain's control system, the ACC is believed to help adjust between cold, hard, fact-based reasoning and emotional responses, such as love, fear or expectation. | high12196.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "he was seriously ill"
},
"options": [
"he would retire",
"he would move to Pittsburgh",
"he was seriously ill",
"he was tired of his present job."
],
"question": "We can infer that Randy gave his last lecture be... | This week, 46-year-old Randy Pausch said goodbye to his students at Carnegie Mellon University with the last lecture called "How to Live Your Childhood Dreams" on his life's journey and the lessons he's learned. In the lecture, he showed the audience how serious his illness was and admitted it was "an elephant in the room", but he was not that discouraged and he made jokes in his lecture. Randy is not just another story on Good Morning America or even on the local news here in Pittsburgh. He is a man I worked for, a Professor of Liam's and a friend of the family. Randy is dying of Pancreatic cancer and in his words only has "3 to 6 months of quality life".
We met Randy about 5 years ago when Liam and I went to a Building Virtual Worlds show. Liam was hooked and applied to get his master under Randy at the Entertainment and Technology Center or ETC. Randy even came to our home for Liam's graduation party and earlier that year we saw the Flying Karamazov Brothers with him and his wife Jaye. Liam got to know Randy as a professional over the course of two years as a graduate student and then as a faculty member. Randy has three children all under the age of 6. Dillon, his oldest, Ross is younger and the youngest is only 9 months old, Lily. I believe Randy is a good man for a few simple reasons. He gave my husband a future doing something he loves, and he was a kind boss, but the thing I admire most about Randy is that you always know where you stand with him. He may be blunt and harsh at times but you know he is honest. He will be greatly missed at Carnegie Mellon. I wish Jaye and the children the best that life has to offer. Please click on the above underlined link and watch his inspiring lecture. It will be worth your time. | high22055.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "To look after his business interests"
},
"options": [
"To protect him from his fans",
"To look after his business interests",
"To help him to change his \"act\"",
"So that he can relax"
],
"question": "Why must ... | The entertainment profession or "show business" attracts many young people. Unfortunately, only very few can hope to become famous and successful. Talent is not enough, because show business is as competitive as any other business .Without a good manager ,a performer can never hope to succeed .Fashion is important in this business, too. The best tailor in the world will never be a success if he makes old-fashioned clothes. In exactly the same way, a performer must change his "act" in order to follow the taste of the moment. This is true for actors, dancers and comedians, but perhaps most of all singers.
"Pop" stands for "popular" and a pop singer has to work very hard to become popular .He must either give the public what they already want, or he must find a new way of singing that will attract their attention. Even when he has succeeded, and his records are sold everywhere, he can not relax. Then he must work harder than ever because there are always younger singers trying to become famous and to steal some of the popularity.The life of a successful pop singer is not at all easy. He can only relax when he is alone, because everything he does is watched and reported in the special newspaper written for the "fans". The fans are the most important people in the world for the singers. They buy his records, they go to his concerts and they make him rich and famous. But they can be very annoying, too. Sometimes their enthusiasm get so hysterical that they do anything to get a "souvenir" . They steal handkerchiefs, they tear off buttons, and they even cut off pieces of the unfortunate singer's hair. Many singers have been forced to hide. A pop singer has to spend a lot of money on clothes, because he must always look smart or at any rate different. He must have a luxurious car. And -- most important -- he must always keep smiling for the benefit of his public. | high1917.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "From their phone conversations."
},
"options": [
"From their phone conversations.",
"Through introductions.",
"In informal conversations.",
"By using a mobile phone."
],
"question": "How did the author get to kn... | I had five hours in the company of First Great Western(FGW) last weekend, on a train full of passengers, all the way from Cornwall to London. I got to know some of my fellow passengers rather well. Not through talking to them, you understand.
There was the youth who was explaining to his friend exactly how he enjoyed a party with his friends last night. Opposite him was a young woman who was very excited to be going to Lanzarote for her summer holiday. And then there was the man who I took to be a car mechanic ; so detailed and technical was his conversation about a second-hand Audi. Everyone had a different, noisy ringtone, and none of the mobile phone conversations I was forced to hear was interesting.
By the end of the journey, I was silently complaining about the modern world, and feeling mad with FGW who, at the very moment when our carriage fell silent, would make an announcement about the buffet car (a carriage where food and drinks are sold) either opening or closing.
FGW seems to be campaigning against peace and quietness, having removed quiet carriage spaces where passengers were requested not to use mobiles so that their trains could carry more passengers. How so? I cannot understand why FGW takes no notice of passengers like me, who have suffered a lot from hearing endless telephone conversations. I have no interest in the smallest details of others' lives. Making people listen to boring mobile phone conversations should be regarded as a rude act."
Every train carriage should, in theory, be quiet. Why can't that be the standard? It is possible to change public custom and practice. It was not so long ago that sidewalks were littered with dog waste:now it's a general rule that dog owners clean it up after their pets. And once we restore peace and quietness to trains, we can then move on and stop people bringing fast food onto them, too. | high10959.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Reports about sending soldiers to Afghanistan."
},
"options": [
"His conscience of being a citizen.",
"Reports about sending soldiers to Afghanistan.",
"His relatives being killed in the war.",
"Getting no reasonable ex... | Dear Editor,
Recent reports have indicated an additional 1, 400 Marines are being sent to Afghanistan in the coming weeks. This means it costs over $1 million annually on the ground over there. I do place a higher level of blame on the policymakers who send soldiers off to kill and be killed in the field. I think the human race needs to think more about killing.
One needs to do the _ : "Are these wars JUST?" I believe that all of our wars since 1945 have been illegal, under international law as well. I suggest that all your readers examine their conscience as it relates to the matter of making war. The fact that many soldiers are motivated by a strong sense of duty does not give them some unqualified moral right to support these wars or any other. It's responsible for all the troops, and the entire population, to determine whether the Afghan or Iraq wars are in accordance with the development of the state.
I wish someone would give me one or more logical reasons why we are still fighting in Afghanistan and what our goals are. I certainly don't understand it and neither do many who are more knowledgeable than I.
Outsiders have tried unsuccessfully for centuries to conquer Afghanistan, and we seem to be no more successful. We are trying to develop a stable central government, but the country is badly divided into ethnic and tribal groups, and the current government is corrupt . Moreover, we are apparently regarded as undesirable occupiers by many of its people, most notably the Taliban.
If we are to continue spending billions every year in Afghanistan and killing hundreds of our people and many of theirs, our government must provide us with a reasonable explanation of why we are doing so and what we can expect to accomplish.
George Myers | high10781.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "It was unnecessary for the man to ask about the price."
},
"options": [
"The man shouldn't come to the service station.",
"The man didn't need to pay for the work.",
"There was no need f to fix the tire .",
"It was unne... | One man tells of driving on a long and lonely road, the last 65 miles of it unpaved, in order to watch Indian dances in the state of Arizona.After the dances, he returned to his car only to find that it had a flat tire.He put on the spare and drove to the only service station in that town.
"Do you fix flats?" he inquired of the attendant.
"Yes," came the answer.
"How much do you charge?" he asked.
With a twinkle in his eye, the man replied, "What difference does it make?"
This is what has been called a "Hobson's choice".A Hobson's choice is a situation that forces a person to accept whatever is offered or go without.
According to Barbara Berliner, the phrase was inspired by sixteenth-century entrepreneur Thomas Hobson.There was no choice by the customer -- it was strictly Hobson's choice.
But often we really have a choice, and the choice does make a difference.We may not always believe it.We may feel as if we have no choice, but almost always there is a choice in the matter.And when we realize that we do most things by choice, then we are taking control of our own lives.
Someone challenged me to try an experiment that completely changed my perspective(,)."For the next seven days," he said, "remove the words 'I have to' from your vocabulary and say 'I choose to'.Don't say, 'I have to work late tonight'.Instead, say, 'I choose to work late'.When you choose to do it, you take control of your life.Instead of saying 'I have to stay home', try 'I choose to stay home'.The way you spend your time is your choice.You are responsible.You have control."
In just seven days I was no longer saying "I have to" and I felt better about my decisions.I learned that there is very little in my life I actually have to do.You and I decide to do certain things because we believe that it will be for the best.When we remove "I have to" from our vocabularies, we take control.
Try it for a week and you see what happens.I think you'll see it's a change for the better. | high20642.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "he ignored the importance of mothering to the babies"
},
"options": [
"he wanted to prove children are born with ability to speak",
"he wanted his nurses to say another language",
"he was unkind to the nurses",
"he igno... | Is language, like food, a basic human need? Judging from the extreme experiment of Frederick in the 13th century, it may be. Hoping to discover what language a child would speak if he heard no mother tongue he told the nurses to keep silent.
All the babies died before the first year. But clearly there was more than language deprivation (,). What was missing was good mothering. Without good mothering, in the first year of life especially, the ability to survive is seriously affected.
Today no such extreme deprivation exists as that ordered by Frederick. Nevertheless, some children are still backward in speaking. Most often the reason for this is that the mother is insensitive to signals of the baby, whose brain is programmed, to mop up language rapidly. There are critical times, it seems when children learn more rapidly. If these sensitive periods are neglected, the ideal time for acquiring skills passes and they might never be learned so easily again.
Linguists suggest that speech milestones are reached in a fixed order and at a constant age, but there are cases where speech has started late in a child who eventually turns out to be of high IQ.
Recent evidence suggests that a baby is born with the ability to speak. What is special about man's brain, compared with that of the monkey, is the complex system which enables a child to connect the sight and feel of, say, a teddy bear with the sound pattern "teddy bear".
But speech has to be developed, and this depends on interaction between the mother and the child, where the mother recognizes the signals in the child's babbling, clinging, grasping, crying, smiling, and responds to them. Insensitivity of the mother to these signals reduces the interaction because the child gets discouraged and sends out only the obvious signals. Sensitivity to the child's nonverbal signals is basic to the growth and development of language. | high3866.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Last month."
},
"options": [
"Last week.",
"Last month.",
"On Dec. 20, 2006.",
"On Apr. 1, 2007."
],
"question": "When did the European Commission say that English is not enough by itself for trade?",
"quest... | "English may be the global language of business but it is not enough by itself for companies to gain a lasting presence in many markets," the European Commission says in a study published last month.
The study collected by the British National Centre for Languages for the EU leader, says over 10 per cent of 2,000 small and medium-sized firms in 29 European countries sampled in the study have lost export contract because of lack of language skills. The study says French is used to trade with partners in Africa, Spanish in Latin America, and Russian in Eastern Europe.
"The picture is far more complex than the much-quoted view that English is the world language," the study says.
Multilingual Commissioner Leonard Orban admitted that English plays an important role worldwide, but he wants to improve more linguistic variety within the EU.
The EU's linguistic headaches have exploded with the group's expansion. Languages have become a sensitive topic in Brussels where English is increasingly eclipsing French as the main working language of the organization. Translation of EU papers into EU's 23 official languages costs 1 billion euros (US $1.31 billion) a year.
"We want to be open not only to official languages of the Union, but also to others like regional languages, languages of minorities, immigrants' languages and third countries' languages," Orband said.
Many EU students have improved their language skills during non-formal learning activities. Young people from more than 20 different nationalities travel across Europe to participate together in many cultural programmes, language courses, thematic workshops and other activities that are organized in about 100 cities. | high20124.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "kindness and weakness"
},
"options": [
"age and position",
"wealth and ability",
"sensibility and humor",
"kindness and weakness"
],
"question": "For some time, Edward Burton impressed the author most with his_.... | Some people seem easy to understand: their character appears obvious on first meeting. Appearances, however, can be deceptive. I shrug my shoulders when people tell me that their first impressions of a person are always right. For my own part I find that the longer I know people, the more they puzzle me.
I read in this morning's paper that Edward Hyde Burton had died. He was a businessman and he had been in business in Japan for many years. Once he gave me a great surprise. Unless I had heard the story from his own lips, I'd never have believed that he was capable of such an action. He was always neatly and quietly dressed in accordance with his age and position. He didn't talk much, but what he said was sensible. You couldn't imagine he'd possibly raise his voice in anger. Here was a man who attracted you because you felt in him a real love for his fellows. He'd tell with point a good and spicy story, and in his youth he'd been something of an athlete. He was a rich man and he'd made every penny himself. I suppose one thing that made you like him was that he was so weak; he aroused your instincts of protection. You felt he couldn't bear to hurt a fly.
One afternoon Burton told me a "funny" story in a quiet, dry humour:
"There was a namesake of mine, who was the best bridge player I ever met. He seemed to have a fantastic instinct about the cards. He won a good deal of my money by card-playing."
"One day he came to me when he lost all his fortune. He came to see me in my office and asked me for a job. I asked him how old he was."
" 'Thirty-five', he said."
" 'And what have you been doing ever since ?' I asked him."
" 'Well, nothing very much.' he said."
" 'I'm afraid I can't do anything for you just yet' I said. 'Come back and see me in another thirty-five years, and I'll see what I can do.' "
"He didn't move. He went rather pale. He hesitated for a moment and then he told me that he had had bad luck at cards for some time. He lost everything he had. He hadn't a penny. He was down and out. If he couldn't get something to do he'd not survive."
"I looked at him for a bit. I could see now that he was all to pieces. He'd been drinking more than usual and he looked fifty."
"Suddenly I had an idea." Pausing in his story, Burton turned to me. "When I was young I swam over three miles round the beacon and landed at the river of Tarumi. It's rather difficult on account of the currents round the beacon. Well, I told my young fellow about it and I said that if he'd do it I'd give him a job."
"I could see he was rather surprised. He was not in good condition for sports. He looked at me for a moment and then he nodded."
"I told him I'd drive round to the river at half past twelve and meet him."
" 'Done,' he said."
"I wished him good luck and he left me. I had a lot of work to do that morning and I only just managed to get to the river Tarumi at half past twelve. But I needn't have hurried; he never turned up."
"Did he fear it at the last moment?" I asked.
"No, he didn't fear it. He started all right. But of course he'd ruined his constitution by drink. The currents round the beacon were more than he could manage. We didn't get the body for about three days."
I didn't say anything for a moment or two. I was rather shocked. Then I asked.
"When you made him that offer of a job, did you know he'd be drowned?"
He looked at me with his kind blue eyes, smiling. "Well, I hadn't got a position in my office at the moment." | high17788.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "solve their financial problems"
},
"options": [
"reduce parents' burdens",
"solve their financial problems",
"offer kids a wide choice of goods",
"improve their students' living conditions"
],
"question": "Schoo... | Many parents try hard to protect their kids from TV and Internet advertising. But how can you protect a child from a large fast-food ad painted on her school locker ? Or a toy ad on the side of his school bus?
As school budgets get smaller, a growing number of schools in the US are selling, advertising space on lockers and buses and in gyms or cafeterias. It is an easy way for schools to make money. And ads may provide relief for parents exhausted by making cash donations to support schools.
While parents can always turn off the televisions or the computers, they can't keep advertising out of schools. This isn't the first time the issue has come up. For example, a news program for teens has been criticized for including ads in its 12-minute classroom broadcasts. And parents' groups successfully fought a plan by a company called Bus Radio to put music and ads into school buses.
But now things are different. Just last month, Los Angeles approved a plan to allow companies to advertise in the district's schools. Officials say the plan could provide as much as $18 million for the schools.
In St. Francis, Minn., schools recently agreed to cover 10% to 15% of their lockers with ads. Time says. Edward Saxton, a teacher in the school, says, "So far, parents are accepting this as a way to bring in needed money. The money pays for programs like arts, sports and music. Parents don't like to see programs getting cut. Neither do I. Besides, schools are thinking about the effects on kids all the time."
However, Susan Linn, an educational expert, says, "Kids have already seen enough ads on TV, in magazines and the products they use daily. School is no place for advertisements at all."
Readers, what about you? Would you rather help run yet another school fundraiser, or expose your child to ads on lockers and buses? Is keeping ads out of schools worth raising taxes, or increasing your own cash support for school through donations? | high17950.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "remain alive after"
},
"options": [
"remain alive after",
"be frightened by",
"fight against",
"try to get out of"
],
"question": "The word \"survive\" appears in the passage several times in different forms. I... | The light is swaying .The building is shaking. A woman with a baby in her arms is trying to open the door, but fails. Finding no way, she rushes into her bedroom and there they _ the earthquake.
In a factory building, as the workshop floor swings under the terrible shaking, workers run for safety. Some hide under the machines and survive, but others who try to run outside are killed by the falling ceilings.
These scenes, played by actors and actresses, are from a film of science education Making a split second decisionshown in 1998 on China Central TV to mark the 22nd anniversary of the Tangshan Earthquake on July 28.
By studying actual cases in the earthquake areas and scientific experiments, experts found that building remain untouched for the first 12 seconds of an earthquake.
In this short time, one has the best chance of surviving an earthquake by staying near the inside walls, in bedrooms and under beds, experts concluded in the film.
"Earthquake seems to catch the lives of those who run,"said many survivors in the earthquake areas, describing how their friends were killed on the doorways or along the stair steps as they tried to get out of the building.
Their advice was proved in the film,"Take a hiding-place where you are rather than run, unless you are sure you can reach a safe open place in ten seconds." | high22733.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "having few feathers due to old age"
},
"options": [
"not having a layer of blubber",
"having few feathers due to old age",
"having no wetsuit",
"others penguins rejecting him"
],
"question": "Pierre felt too col... | Pierre is a 25-year-old penguin at the California Academy of Sciences.Due to his old age,he was going bald,which made him feel too cold to swim in the pool.Therefore,biologists at the academy had a wetsuit created for this penguin to help him get back in the swimming pool.
Unlike marine mammals,which have a layer of blubber to keep them warm,penguins depend on their waterproof feathers.Without them,Pierre was unwilling to jump into the swimming pool and ended up trembling on the side of the pool while his 19 peers played in the water.
"He was cold:he would shake,"said Pam Schaller,a senior biologist.Schaller first tried a heat lamp to keep Pierre warm.Then she got another idea:if wetsuits keep humans warm in the cold Pacific,why not make one for Pierre?
Schaller designed the suit,which covered Pierre's body and had small openings for his flippers.
"I would walk behind him and look at where there were any gaps.and cut and refit until it looked like it was extremely suitable."she said.
One concern was that the other penguins would reject Pierre in his new suit,but in fact,they accepted his new look.He swam freely and got along with others well,although he was the only penguin with a black stomach.
Schaller couldn't say for sure whether the wetsuit allowed Pierre to recover his fine feathers,but" certainly we were able to keep him comfortable during a period of time that would have been very difficult for him to stay comfortable".
Pierre will take off his suit after his new feathers grow back. | high8933.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Disney characters."
},
"options": [
"His commercial sense.",
"Disney studio.",
"Disney characters.",
"Fantasy surroundings."
],
"question": "What did Walt Disney want to show in his plan?",
"question_type": ... | Walt had a strong commercial sense of what would appeal to the public. Disneyland, Walt Disney World, and finally the other Disney theme parks around the world all came about because Walt Disney insisted that he could build an amusement park that was so much bigger and better than other amusement parks that it shouldn't even be called an amusement park.
In 1940 he disclosed a plan to show Disney characters in their fantasy surroundings at a park across the street from the Disney studio in Burbank.
The idea of an amusement park grew in Walt's mind as he traveled through the US and Europe and visited attractions of all kinds. Walt was sure that an amusement park would be successful in the United States if it offered a "good show" that families could enjoy together, was clean, and had friendly employees.
In 1948 he shared his concept with trusted friends, a modest amusement park with a central village including a town hall, a small park, railroad station movie theater, and small stores. Outlying areas would include a carnival area and a western village. Soon he added spaceship and submarine rides, a steamboat, and exhibit halls.
Four years later, he decided on "Disneyland" for the name and formed a company to develop the park, Disneyland, Inc.
In 1953 he got Stanford Research Institute to examine the economic future of Disneyland and to find the perfect location.
They broke ground in July, 1954, and one year later, Disneyland opened. Within 7 weeks, a million visitors had visited Disneyland, making it one of the biggest tourist attractions in the US.
Walt combined his talent and his sense of what the public would want with lots of hard work. In 1960, with a mixture of huge successes and failures, Disney had created something that was successful beyond Walt's own dreams. | high14281.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Website: www.boatcruises.com"
},
"options": [
"Website: www.vancouverlookout.com",
"Email: info@vancouverlookout.com",
"Website: www.city.burnaby.cb.ca",
"Website: www.boatcruises.com"
],
"question": "If you wan... | Harbour Cruises LTD.
Dining, Sightseeing and Special Events
Get on board to experience Vancouver from a different perspective . Join Harbour Cruises Ltd. For Vancouver's only guided tour of the inner harbour, the always popular dinner cruise , or a luncheon cruise through a quiet coastal mountain bay . Special event cruises are available throughout the year including during the yearly fireworks competition and December's Christmas Carol Ships. Harbour Cruises Ltd. is located next to world-famous Stanley Park. Dates of Operation: April - October and December Seasonal Hours: 8 : 00 am - 7 : 00 pm, 7 days a week Directions: Drive west on Georgia and turn right at the lights at Denman Street. Take the # 135 Stanley Park bus or walk west along Georgia for 15 minutes towards Stanley Park from downtown.
Information: 604.688.7246
Reservations : 1. 800. 663. 1500
Website: www. boatcruises. corn
Email: tours@boatcruises . corn
# 1, North Foot of Den-man Street, Vancouver, BC V6G 2w9
The Lookout at Harbour Centre Tower
Not sure where to start? The Lookout,which is high atop Harbor Center Tower,is your best first choice in Vancouver.Majestic cruise ships,mountains sprinkled with fresh snow and a west coast sunset are but a few highlights of this grand 3600 view.Drink your cappuccino,join a free guided tour,learn something new about Vancouver and enjoy the view!
Dates of Operation:Open 365 days/year
Seasonal Hours:Winter 9:00 am - 9:00 pm
Summer 8:30 am - 10:30 pm
Directions:Located downtown at the SeaBus and SkyTrain station.
Just steps away from the Cruise Ship Terminal and historic Gastown.
Infonnation and Reservations:604.689.0421
Website: www. vancouverlookout.com
Email: info@vancouverlookout.com
555 West Hastings Street, Vancouver, BC V6B 4N4
Burnaby Village Museum And Carousel
Step back in time to 1925. The museum features a village, a farmhouse and the historic CW Parker Carousel. Costumed townspeople welcome you to exhibits that include a schoolhouse, a blacksmith, a Chinese medicine store and an ice - cream parlour.
Seasonal Hours: May 4 - Sept 2 (11: 00 am - 4:30 pm )
Christmas Hours: Nov 23 - Dec 13 & Dec31 - Jan 4(12:00 - 5:30 pm) and Dec 14 - 30 (12:00 - 8:00 pm) Closed Dec 24& 25
Directions: Take exit 33 from Hwy 1 to Canada Way. Follow the signs along the sidewalk to Deer Lake Park. 20 minutes from downtown Vancouver.
Information: 604. 293. 6501
Telephone: 604. 293. 6500
Website: www. city. burnaby.cb.ca.
6501 Deer Lake Avenue, Burnaby, BC V5G 3T6 | high8927.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "14"
},
"options": [
"14",
"16",
"18",
"20"
],
"question": "How old was Lin Dan when he first met Xie Xingfang?",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"... | "Super Dan", as top-seeded Lin Dan of China is better known in the badminton world, had his Olympic dream come true after claiming the men's singles gold by beating Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia on August 17 in the Beijing Olympics.
His father, Lin Jianbin, said "Super Dan"has waited for four years to get this championship and he felt very proud of his son, as well as his prospective daughter-in-law Xie Xingfang, who is also a badminton player and won silver in women's singles at the Beijing Games.
An SMS: The beginning of a love story
Lin was born in Shanghang County, Longyan in Fujian Province. He first met Xie Xingfang when he was 14-years-old. 16-year-old Xie was attending a national youth team badminton training camp in Jinjiang, Fujian and Lin was also there.
Tall and beautiful, Xie became the Snow White in the heart of Lin Dan, and he tried to please her and get chances to chat with her after the training sessions. He did not go beyond that.
Before the Spring Festival in 2004, Lin finally mustered(,) the courage and sent Xie Xingfang a text message - I LOVE YOU. In fact, Xie Xingfang had already realized Lin Dan was fond of her. And covertly , she began to pay attention to Lin's movement and performance on the court. "He is very interesting, got a lot of ideas, and is a lovely boy."
Two Kisses
In May 2004 at the Thomas Cup in Jakarta, their love relationship was first known to the public. Xie sat with her teammates and watched the men's team playing. When Lin Dan won the match, he rushed to the bench and kissed Xie, a move that Xie did not expect Lin to do in public. A photographer captured this moment.
At the All England Open in 2007, Lin kissed her again in public, making Xie feel like the happiest woman in the world.
After Lin won his third title at the Open, he did not stay to watch Xie play. Xie defeated her opponent and won the championship. When she was called to accept the trophy(,) , Lin suddenly emerged at the central venue, holding red roses and gave her the flowers, and a passionate kiss.
Nine Roses
Earlier, on February 14, 2006, Lin and Xie were with the national badminton teams at a training camp in Jinjiang. The teams had their rules - not going out of the training camp. Xie thought she would spend the Valentine's Day without flowers.
But Lin still managed to give her a surprise - giving her a Dior wallet as a Valentine's gift and nine roses. With the teams' rule in place, Lin asked his local friend to buy the roses and gave her a pleasant Valentines surprise.
A 200-square-meter apartment
Lin Dan and Xie Xingfang's love has been through four years of tests, and Xie's father also said that they should consider marriage after the Olympics.
In fact, Lin Dan has already prepared for this. He has bought a 200-square-meter apartment in downtown Beijing, with 4 rooms and 2 living rooms. Paying about 20,000 yuan per square meter for the apartment, it is reported the apartment is now valued at 8 million yuan.
"After the Olympics, we really want to live our own lives, go on vacation, go to school, get married, I am really looking forward to it," Xie said happily.
With two kitchens, one Chinese and one Western style, Xie said she wanted to be the person preparing soup at home and enjoy family life. | high529.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "unhappy"
},
"options": [
"pleased",
"unhappy",
"embarrassed",
"optimistic"
],
"question": "The author's attitude to the customers made grandpa _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer"... | Frank was a barber and my grandma Joan was a hairdresser, who moved from London to Rugby and then settled in Cambridge. The worked together in their own shop on Mill Road, and it was above it that my mother and my two older sisters were born.
I remember visiting them often at the salon and sitting in the back room eating my lunch, which always seemed to be a boiled egg. I can still recall the burst linoleum ,the almost overpowering smell of hairdresser s chemicals, the barber s shop was at the front and the ladies' salon at the back. They was always barber's banter and customers would try to talk to me, but I mistrusted strangers and was not interested, much to my grandpa's disgust.
Frank was a conscientious objector in the second world war and was sent to Bedford prison, Later, he was sent to a prisoner-of-war camp for hard labor, and to guard the prisoners. He made good friends with some of the Italians and after war they visited each other for many years until they all became too old to travel. Grandma was a fantastic cook and picked up a lot of Italian cookery tips on her visits. She could make a delicious meal from basic materials and was a very inventive person, who recycled long before it was fashionable.
That generation lived through hard times and two world wars. They were resourceful through necessity, making use and re-using whatever they could.
Although my grandfather was a _ man who could be quite difficult sometimes, they were devoted to each other and spent many happy years together.
My grandma had a heavy stroke in her 90s and was never the same again, as though part of her brain had been switched off. She tried hard to carry on with her cooking, sewing and knitting etc, but it became too much of a challenge. She died a few years later in 1998, and it broke Frank's heart. Exactly a year later, Frank died, aged 91. The nurse who was with him when he died said his last words were: "I'm coming. Joan." | high23439.txt |
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